The creation of Carnival and Mardi Gras was to celebrate the harvest before fasting to honor the abundance of the harvest and the unseen forces thought to have assisted in delivering the bounties of life to the people. As with most sacred celebrations, very few today understand the real reasons for the seasons. With popularity comes comercialism and soon the ideas are burried under a pile of cheap plastic beads and trampled shoppers. We are the only ones who can ever take back the sacred. As individuals we choose who, what and how we honor. Will we find ourselves drunk and helpless in the gutter of Bourbon street, or trampled at the bottom of a Black Friday pile up? Or will we use grace, love and compassion to celebrate what the universe has provided? Our choice. Our Karmic footprint. Our responsibility.