(CNN) — Break out your beads and get in your last bites of king cake -- Mardi Gras is nigh.

Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday. It's also called Shrove Tuesday, Carnival Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday, depending on where the celebration is taking place.

No matter the name, it's a day of revelry that includes parades, parties and gastronomic indulgence before the Christian fasting season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (February 26 in 2020). It marks the last day of the Carnival season, basically a six-week period of partying around the globe.

Mardi Gras is synonymous with Carnival celebrations in New Orleans, Venice and Rio, but the day is marked in similarly festive fashion around the world in countries with large Roman Catholic populations.

However, what began as a holiday rooted in religious tradition has become a cultural phenomenon, leading to parties for the sake of partying, and not necessarily in anticipation of 40 days of penance between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.