Daily Calendar for February 16th, 2021

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).

1860s

• 1867: Future Canadian prime minister (Sir) John A. Macdonald married Susan A. Bernard

• 1868: Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks founded in NYC

1880s

• 1881: Canadian Pacific Railway Company incorporated

• 1883: Ladies Home Journal was published for the first time

1900s

• Born 1903: Edgar Bergen (ventriloquist)

1930s

• 1932: First fruit tree patent (for a peach) issued in the United States

• Born 1935: Sonny Bono (singer, actor, & politician)

1950s

• Born 1957: LeVar Burton, Jr. (actor)

• 1959: Fidel Castro became prime minister of Cuba

• Born 1959: John McEnroe (tennis player)

1960s

• 1968: The nation's first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated, in Haleyville, Alabama

1970s

• 1972: Basketball player Wilt Chamberlain scored his 30,000th point in a game between the Lakers and the Suns. He was the first player in NBA history to amass 30,000 points

• Born 1972: Jerome Bettis (football player)

2000s

• Died 2002: John Gardner (health, education, and welfare secretary)

• Died 2004: Doris Troy (singer who wrote and sang the top 10 hit Just One Look)

• Died 2005: Nicole DeHuff (actress)

• 2008: A scrapbook with locks of hair from the first 12 U.S. presidents went on display at The Academy of Natural Science

2010s

• Died 2012: Gary "Kidd" Carter (baseball catcher)

• Died 2015: Lesley Gore (singer)

• 2015: 250-hour, 3-minute, 20-second ice hockey marathon ended, Saiker's Acres, Alberta