Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras

In the Christian calendar, Shrove Tuesday is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which in turn marks the beginning of Lent. In many countries in Europe and America this is the last day of Carnival. In some historically Francophone places it is called Mardi Gras, French for "Fat Tuesday"; the most famous celebration under this name is New Orleans Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras
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The origin of the name Shrove lies in the archaic English verb "to shrive" which means to absolve people of their sins. It was common in the Middle Ages for "shriveners" (priests) to hear people's confessions at this time, to prepare them for Lent.

Food Traditions

The practice of eating pancakes and pastry began when Christians in the Middle Ages had to abstain from all animal products during the forty days of Lent which necessitated the consumption of all eggs and milk no later than Shrove Tuesday.

In Ireland Shrove Tuesday is known as "Pancake Tuesday", while in Britain it is popularly known as "Pancake Day". In Ireland the traditional pancake is a very thin one (very like a French crepe) which is served immediately sprinkled with caster sugar and a dash of fresh lemon juice.

In Sweden Shrove Tuesday, is just as in France known as "Fat Tuesday", or Fettisdagen in Swedish. The day is marked by eating traditional Swedish pastry, called Semla. Supposedly, the pastry is only to be eaten on this day but it is seasonally available from New Year until the beginning of Lent.

In Poland, and also in areas of the United States with large Polish populations, pączki are a common find.

Shrove Tuesday in England

In England Shrove Tuesday is celebrated as Pancake Day, but apart from the serving of pancakes and occasional pancake races and football matches, little else of Carnival survived the Reformation.

Charity or school events are often organised on Pancake Day. One popular event is a foot race in which each participant carries a pancake on a frying pan. They have to keep tossing their pancakes in the air (and catching them again!) as they run. A famous pancake race at Olney in Buckinghamshire has been held since 1445. Every Shrove Tuesday, the towns of Olney, England and Liberal, Kansas have a pancake race. The two towns' competitors race along an agreed-upon course, and the times of all of the two towns' competitors are compared, to determine a winner.

Many towns throughout England held traditional Shrove Tuesday football ('mob football') games dating as far back as the 12th century. The practice mostly died out with the passing of the 1835 Highways Act, which banned the playing of football on public highways but a number of towns have managed to maintain the tradition to the present day.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia and from ShiningRise.com

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