You are begging the question. I asked where in the Scriptures do you find (specifically) "Mardi Gras" amd "Lent" - you have given me verses on fasting. Those verses are true - and to answer your question, we fast when there are times of appropriate need, such as in conjunction with a time of intense prayer - but you have not answered my question.
Colossians 2:16-17 " Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ."
Again, my simple question is: where is the Scripture for "Mardi Gras" and "Lent?"
I'll save you time. You can't. The visible Body of Christ, the Church (That's we Catholics, son) is cited 110 times in the New Testament while "Scripture" is cited 54 times.
Add that to the fact it is we Catholics who wrote the Scripture you use to try and oppose the Catholic Church and you have yourself one knotty problem which you can try to solve during Lent.
P.S. It is said fasting tends to produce clarity of thought.
Have a nice day.
Mardi Gras is not a religious occasion, but a social custom. Catholics don't need to give you any Scriptural warrant for something that isn't part of the faith, but just something that some Catholics do. (Some Catholics like to eat steak on Sundays. Do we need Scriptural justification for that, as well?)
As for Lent, have you not read that Jesus fasted 40 days in the wilderness before beginning his public ministry? Fasting to draw closer to God is a Biblical custom. Repentance, which is the theme of Lent, is a divine command. Do I really need to show you that from the Scriptures?