Fat Tuesday is today, Feb. 28, 2017, and InvestorPlace has some insight on the Mardi Gras celebration.

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Here are a few things to know about Fat Tuesday.

• Fat Tuesday takes place one day before Ash Wednesday.
• The event is also known as Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, or more commonly, Mardi Gras.
• Mardi Gras is actually just French for fat Tuesday.
• Shrove is the past tense of shrive, which is the act of confessing to a priest, being given penance and repenting.
• It is actually part of a larger celebration called Carnival that started with Three Kings Day on Jan. 6.
• Fat Tuesday is specifically a day for Catholics to indulge before fasting on Ash Wednesday.
• It also has many participants eating their favorite foods before giving them up for Lent, which last for six weeks.
• The event always takes place 47 days before Easter Sunday.
• The earliest it can be is Feb. 3 and the latest it can be is March 9.
• Many celebrate the day by making pancakes to get all the eggs and milk out of the house before Lent starts.
• The whole event used to be much more formal, but it grew to become festive over the years.
• The original version of Lent had those taking part giving up all foods from animals, including cheese, eggs, milk and meat.

You can follow these links to learn more about Fat Tuesday. InvestorPlace also has a quick breakdown of Ash Wednesday, which takes place tomorrow, for those that are interested in learning more about the holiday.