What is the meaning behind the happy and sad face mask at Mardi Gras time?

The words ';Mardi Gras'; mean ';fat Tuesday.'; This is part of the story. This carnival comes the day before what is called ';Ash Wednesday'; which is the start of a 40 day period called Lent. It is a period of mourning and austerity which recalls the suffering of Jesus leading up to the celebration of his resurrection at Easter. That is the background for the happy and sad faces at the carnival. This is both a happy and sad time. We are happy because we are having a very good time, celebrating and eating good and yummy foods and drinking wine, usually -- that's what the ';fat'; in Fat Tuesday is all about. But the next day we will begin to deny outselves many of those same things, as part of the recognition of the sufferings of Jesus on the cross, so long ago. So we are sad at the same time, in anticipation of the dieting and the denial and the memory of that sad time so long ago when Jesus died. If you are not a Christian, then none of this may mean a thing to you. But this is the original meaning behind it.What is the meaning behind the happy and sad face mask at Mardi Gras time?
laugh now/cry later???

getting late