Shrove Tuesday: Shrive and thrive



They're still at it!  (Photo by Uksignpix)

The dual nature of Pre-Lenten celebrations is never so evident as on Shrove Tuesday. 

On the one hand, it’s the last call for repentance (shrive now, or

forever hold your peace) before Lent begins.  On the other hand

(or perhaps in the other hand), there are goodies galore.  Which

is it, then?  This question assumes an either/or.  The answer, in fact, is a both/and.

Shrove Tuesday (aka Fat Tuesday, which sounds a lot more

appetizing in French - as do most things) reflects the human tug of war between this world and the next.  Within the same people who sincerely confess their sins - dwell alter egos who sincerely just want to eat, drink and be merry.  The eternal question is whether these two facets of human nature can ever be compatible.

Shrove Tuesday traditions say that they can.  In merry old England, this day began with the ringing of church bells, and then moved quickly on to pancakes.  The connection?  Lent would begin the very next day, and such things as milk, butter and eggs would have to be forsaken.  Since the wasting of food was not to be tolerated either, something wholesome had to be done with all the Pre-Lenten leftovers. 

What could be more wholesome than making pancakes?  Perhaps racing down the street while tossing them from a pan…  (They thought so, anyway.  Plus, they got to feast on the residuals.)

It seems that a housewife from Olney started the whole thing.  She, too, seemed to suffer from the conflict between higher and lower selves.  The evidence?  One Shrove Tuesday – long, long ago – she was in the kitchen frying up her last batch of pancakes before Lent.  She became so absorbed by this worldly task that she forgot all about church.  Suddenly, she heard the bells ringing.  Uh oh!

She had to think fast.  What would it be?  Piety or pancakes?  It didn’t take her long to decide.  She ran towards the church, frying pan still in hand.

She, like most of us, wanted it all.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olney,_Buckinghamshire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent

Copyright March 8, 2011 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved