Celebrating Shrove Tuesday in Louisiana is a little like celebrating your birthday on Christmas eve.
Mardi Gras — the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday — is the “Fat Tuesday” that it is billed as across the state. It is the final day of celebration before the beginning of Lent, the period of introspection and sacrifice that Christians observe before Easter.
Like Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday is the final day of the “Shrovetide” week — the three-day period preceding Ash Wednesday where Christians prepare themselves for the Lenten season.
The twin sister of Mardi Gras is a long-practiced tradition called Shrove Tuesday. Although pinning down a definite date for the beginning of this tradition is not easy, there is mention of this day in Aelfric’s “Ecclesiastical Institutes,” a document dated approximately A.D. 1000. Aelfric writes, “In the week immediately before Lent (begins) everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him as he may then hear ... what he is to do (for penance).”
Shriving is a term that has long passed out of the vernacular language. The term shrive means to receive absolution for those deeds one’s confessor deems worthy of doing penance. During Shrovetide, penitents reflect and review the past year, and through confession and penance, remove the burden of deeds “done and undone” from the previous year.
Although they may seem like an unlikely food tradition for any religious celebration, pancakes are the designated food for Shrove Tuesday. In the spirit of Lenten discipline, early Christians eliminated rich ingredients from their diet during Lent. Pancakes, a simple cake came to represent the four elements of the Christian faith: eggs represented creation; flour represented a basic ingredient to sustain life; salt represented wholesomeness; and milk represented purity.
Some groups, however, use the Shrove Tuesday pancake celebration as a epicurean feast — adding fruit, nuts, chocolate, whipped cream, and other culinary treats to the meal as a “last celebration” before Ash Wednesday.
In addition to preparing and sharing a simple meal, the Shrove Tuesday traditions include thoughtful repentance of sin in preparation for the 40-day Lenten season. Some Christian communities include a solemn walk accompanied by bells ringing to usher in the solemnity of Lent. Other communities, however, more in the spirit of the Mardi Gras celebrations, host outdoor games, competitive pancake races, and rowdy competitions between men and women.
This year, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church will host a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper at 5 p.m. Feb. 28 at 123 Sale Road. There will be plenty of time to share a pancake and make it to a perfect spot for the Krewe of Krewe Parade that rolls at sundown from the Civic Center south on Ryan Street.
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Donations for the pancake dinners will be applied to purchase new children’s playground equipment at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.
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