People have often asked me, “Why is it that some Christian churches around the world serve pancakes on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday?”
It’s not an easy answer, and there are differences of opinion that surround the tradition of pancake suppers that seem to have become so popular in Christian churches on that Tuesday.
Shrove Tuesday is the term used in the United Kingdom to refer to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which begins the liturgical season of Lent. In the UK, the day is also known as “Pancake Day” or “Pancake Tuesday” because it is customary to eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. In other parts of the world ó for example, in historically Catholic and French-speaking parts of the United States and elsewhere ó the day is called Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday).
Pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent as a way of using up the eggs, milk and sugar. The 40 days of Lent form a period of fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs are eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk and sugar are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes and doughnuts were an efficient way of using up these perishable goods, and provided an opportunity to celebrate a feast prior to the fast.
The word shrove is the past tense of the English verb “shrive,” which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by confessing. Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving (confession) that the Anglo-Saxon Christians were expected to do immediately before Lent.
Shrove Tuesday is the last day of “shrovetide,” which is an English equivalent to the Carnival (Meat Festival) tradition that developed separately out of the countries of Latin Europe. In countries of the Carnival tradition, the day before Ash Wednesday is known either as the “Tuesday of Carnival” or the last day one could consume meat prior to Lent. The term “Shrove Tuesday” is not widely known in the United States, especially in those regions that celebrate Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday.
Today is Shrove Tuesday. Christ Episcopal Church on Old U.S. 70 in Cleveland will have its traditional Shrove Tuesday “Pancake Supper” from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The church will accept donations for the meal and the money collected will go to the youth group to fund program and mission projects.
The Ash Wednesday service of Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes will be at Christ Church on Wednesday at 7 p.m. For this and more information, go to www.christchurchclevelandnc.org.
The Rev. Ken Saunders is pastor of Christ Episcopal Church in Cleveland.