Popular practices include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, sports competitions, parades, etc. Similar expressions to Mardi Gras appear in other European languages sharing the Christian tradition, as it is associated with the religious requirement for confession before Lent begins. In many areas, the term "Mardi Gras" has come to mean the whole period of activity related to the celebratory events, beyond just the single day. In some American cities, it is now called "Mardi Gras Day". It also has became a single people's counter to the coupled-centric Valentine's Day. The festival season varies from city to city, as some traditions consider Mardi Gras the entire period between Epiphany or Twelfth Night and Ash Wednesday.Others treat the final three-day period before Ash Wednesday as the Mardi Gras. In Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras-associated social events begin in November, followed by mystic society balls on Thanksgiving, then New Year's Eve, followed by parades and balls in January and February, celebrating up to midnight before Ash Wednesday. In earlier times parades were held on New Year's Day. Other cities famous for Mardi Gras celebrations includeRio de Janeiro, Brazil; Barranquilla, Colombia; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Quebec City, Canada; Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico; and New Orleans, Louisiana.

Carnival is an important celebration in Anglican and Catholic European nations.In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the week before Ash Wednesday is called "shrovetide", ending on Shrove Tuesday. It has its popular celebratory aspects as well. Pancakes are a traditional food. Pancakes and related fried breads or pastries made with sugar, fat and eggs are also traditionally consumed at this time in many parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Q

A lot of exercise routines call for a cool-down at the end. Is this necessary? What for?

Asked by avi • 396 votes

A

“For a long time, the theory was that cooling down by continuing to exercise at a lower intensity would help the legs flush out lactate” and avoid soreness the next day, said Ross Tucker, a South African physiologist and a founder of the website The Science of Sport.“That’s still dogma among many coaches and athletes.”

But it is a myth. “We now know that lactate isn’t responsible for muscle damage or soreness,” Dr. Tucker said, and cooling down does not rid muscles of it anyway.

The available scientific evidence shows, in fact, little benefit from cooling down as most of us do it, with a prolonged, slow easing of physical effort. In a representative 2007 study, healthy adults briskly walked for 30 minutes backward on a treadmill set at an incline to simulate going downhill, an activity known to induce sore muscles.

Some of the group warmed up first with a gentle, forward-facing 10-minute walk. Others did the same afterward, as a cool-down. A few did neither. Two days later, the walkers who had warmed up reported less muscle soreness than the others. But those who had cooled down were just as sore as those in the control group.

Which is not to say that you should abruptly end a workout. During lengthy, strenuous exercise, blood vessels in your legs expand, and blood can pool there if you shift suddenly from high to zero exertion, resulting in dizziness or fainting. A few minutes of jogging, walking or other light exertion will normalize blood flow, Dr. Tucker said.

Meanwhile, there is no evidence that longer cool-downs are harmful, Dr. Tucker pointed out, so if you enjoy cooling down, continue. You have little to lose, except time.