In 2027, Mardi Gras falls on Tuesday 9 February, just one week after Chandeleur. Fancy dress, crêpes and fritters: here is why the date changes every year, where the celebration comes from and what the French eat that day, in Alsace and elsewhere.
In short: Mardi Gras 2027 is on Tuesday 9 February 2027. It always falls 47 days before Easter (28 March in 2027), the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent. It is not a public holiday in France.
How is the date of Mardi Gras calculated?
Mardi Gras is a movable feast: its date depends on Easter, which is set on the Sunday after the first full moon of spring (according to a Church calculation that fixes the equinox on 21 March). You then count backwards:
- Lent lasts forty days, not counting Sundays: it starts on Ash Wednesday, 46 days before Easter;
- Mardi Gras is the day before, so 47 days before Easter.
As a result, Mardi Gras always falls on a Tuesday between 3 February and 9 March.
| Year | Mardi Gras | Ash Wednesday | Easter |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Tuesday 9 February | 10 February | 28 March |
| 2028 | Tuesday 29 February | 1 March | 16 April |
| 2029 | Tuesday 13 February | 14 February | 1 April |
| 2030 | Tuesday 5 March | 6 March | 21 April |
A calendar curiosity: in 2028, a leap year, Mardi Gras will fall on 29 February.
Where does Mardi Gras come from?
Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") is the last day of Carnival, the final celebration before Lent, the period of fasting and abstinence leading up to Easter. For centuries, the Church banned meat during those forty days, and for a long time eggs, butter and animal fats too.
So before going without, people feasted: these were the "fat days", with Mardi Gras as the grand finale. The word carnival is thought to come from the Italian carnevale, linked to the Latin carnem levare, "to remove meat".
The religious meaning has faded, but the celebration remains: French children wear fancy dress to school, parades fill the streets, and people cook rich, sweet food.
Why crêpes on Mardi Gras?
For a very practical reason: stocks of eggs, milk, butter and flour had to be used up before Lent. A crêpe or fritter batter used everything at once, and fed the whole family.
You will know the same logic from Britain: the day is called Shrove Tuesday, but everyone says Pancake Day.
Crêpes, beignets, bugnes and merveilles
Depending on the region, French Mardi Gras has its own fried or pan-cooked treats:
- crêpes, all over France;
- bugnes, around Lyon;
- merveilles, in the South-West;
- oreillettes, in Provence and Languedoc;
- and carnival beignets (fritters and doughnuts) of every kind.
And in Alsace?
As Mardi Gras approaches, Alsatian bakery windows fill with Fasenachtskiechle, the carnival doughnuts (the spelling varies from village to village: Fàsnàchtskiechle, Fasnachtskiechle…). Most often they are soft Berliners (boules de Berlin), plain or filled with jam; elsewhere, flatter fritters rolled in sugar and cinnamon. Some bakers sell them from January onwards, throughout the carnival season.
Mardi Gras or Chandeleur: what's the difference?
These two French crêpe days are often confused:
| Chandeleur | Mardi Gras | |
|---|---|---|
| Date | fixed: 2 February | movable: 47 days before Easter |
| Origin | Christian feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Candlemas), the "feast of candles" | last day of Carnival, before Lent |
| On the table | crêpes | crêpes and fritters |
| In 2027 | Tuesday 2 February | Tuesday 9 February |
In 2027, both fall on a Tuesday, one week apart: two good reasons to eat crêpes. Everything about the first in our article Chandeleur 2027: date and crêpe traditions.
And the Mulhouse Carnival?
Traditionally, carnival ends on Mardi Gras. Mulhouse, however, lives to the rhythm of Basel, where the Fasnacht only begins after Ash Wednesday: in recent years, the Mulhouse carnival has opened on Ash Wednesday and ended the following Sunday. In 2027, the Mulhouse Carnival runs from Wednesday 10 to Sunday 14 February, just after Mardi Gras, with the big parade on the Sunday; the Basel Fasnacht follows, from 15 to 17 February. Dates, programme and practical tips in our article Mulhouse Carnival 2027.
Celebrate Mardi Gras at the crêperie
9 February 2027 is a Tuesday: the Crampous Mad crêperie is open from 11:30 am to 9 pm, with service all day, at 14 rue des Tondeurs, near Place de la Réunion. Start with a 100% buckwheat galette, gluten-free, such as the Complète or the Nordique with smoked salmon. Then on to a crêpe, cooked one by one to order: sugar and butter, the Spéciale du Faouët with salted butter caramel, or a flambéed crêpe to end the "fat days" in style.
Discover the menu · Book a table by phone on 03 89 45 79 43
Dates calculated from the date of Easter. Dates of the 2027 Mulhouse Carnival from the JDS events listing (jds.fr), and of the Basel Fasnacht from basel.com.