The Old Farmer's Almanac daily calendar gives you quick reference for the significant events on any day throughout the year.

Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday

Mardi Gras is French for "fat Tuesday"--the final feasting before the fasting of Lent, which begins tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. Fat Tuesday is also called Shrove Tuesday, a name that comes from the practice of shriving--purifying oneself through confession--prior to Lent. Many of the names applied to this day relate to food and eating. In many Latin countries, Mardi Gras is the culmination of the carnival season of revelry and feasting. (Carnival from the Latin carnem levare, means to take meat away.) Among the Pennsylvania Dutch, this Tuesday is Fastnacht (fast night), and everyone enjoys the traditional fastnachtkuchen, a rectangular doughnut with a slit in the middle. For the English, Shrove Tuesday is also called Pancake Day, as they use up the cooking fats that are forbidden during Lent. Check out the Old Farmer's Almanac’s very own Shrove Tuesday Pancakes recipe (search on our Web site).

1820s

• 1827: Baltimore and Ohio railroad incorporated

1860s

• 1861: Congress created the Territory of Colorado

1910s

• Born 1913: Vincente Minnelli (film director)

• Died 1916: Henry James (writer)

1930s

• Born 1939: Tommy Tune (choreographer)

1940s

• Born 1940: Mario Andretti (race car driver)

• Born 1944: Kelly Bishop (actress)

• Born 1948: Bernadette Peters (actress & singer)

1950s

• 1952: Vincent Massey became the first Canadian born Governor General of Canada

• 1953: James D. Watson and Francis H. C. Crick announced discovery of DNA's chemical structure

• Born 1957: John Turturro (actor)

1960s

• Born 1969: Robert Sean Leonard (actor)

1970s

• 1977: Parliament created VIA Rail Canada Inc.

1980s

• 1983: The last episode of M*A*S*H, Goodbye, Farewell and Amen, aired on television

1990s

• Died 1993: Ruby Keeler (actress, singer, & dancer)

2000s

• Born 2001: Smarty Jones (Kentucky Derby winning horse)

• Died 2004: Daniel Boorstin (Pulitzer Prize-winning author and social historian who served as the librarian of Congress for 12 years)

• Died 2007: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (Pulitzer Prize-winning historian)

• Died 2008: Mike Smith (lead singer of Dave Clark Five)

• Died 2009: Paul Harvey (radio broadcaster)

• 2009: Performer Natasha Veruschka swallowed 22.83-inch sword

2010s

• 2013: Pope Benedict XVI stepped down as leader of the Roman Catholic church, becoming the first pope in about 600 years to retire