By Leslie Thayer
Tuesday, Feb. 21, marks a significant day in both popular and religious culture since the Middle Ages. It is the day before the Christian celebration of Ash Wednesday – the beginning of the season of Lent, and is known variously as Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Pancake Day, Fasnacht Day, or the last day of Carnival.
Each title for this special Tuesday highlights an aspect of community life over the centuries, and depicts a creative tension between secular and sacred life.
Fat Tuesday is the English translation of “Mardi Gras,” originally a three-day celebration before Lent. The purpose was to consume all spoilable foods such as meat, fish, eggs, and milk prior to the 40-day fast of Lent. “Shrove” Tuesday is a translation of the Latin word “shrive” — to hear confessions, denoting an aspect of cleansing and self-sacrifice in preparation for Lent.
The title “Pancake Day” comes from the English traditions of using up the flour, eggs, and milk in order to make pancakes and fritters, as well as participating in Pancake races wherein women would run pre-designated courses holding a hot skillet and flipping a pancake three times while Across the Channel in France children go around their neighborhoods in masks demanding pancakes or fritters.
In Province, an old adage stated that if one held a coin in the left hand and flipped a pancake with the right hand, he or she would become rich. And in Brie, the first pancake of a batch was given to the hen who laid the eggs used to make them. Incidentally, it was always considered bad luck to drop a pancake on the floor while flipping them!
German-American communities, especially in Pennsylvania and Ohio celebrated Fasnacht Day with the eating of sweet, cake-type doughnuts, and games and music. “Carnival” comes from the Latin carne vale – farewell to the flesh – at one time an entire season of frivolity and feasting in parts of Europe, South American, and French-Catholic communities along the U.S. Gulf Coast such as New Orleans. The season would culminate with Mardi Gras.
Today we see a creative tension between the boisterous, public revelry and carousing sometimes associated with our Americanized Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday celebrations and a more subdued, methodical “getting our house in order physically and spiritually” celebration.
Yet,the colorful palate created over the centuries of feasting, costumes, dancing, parades, cleaning out of cupboards, pancakes, doughnuts, and fritters have a singular focus or conclusion: They point to the days ahead, to Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, when our lives become more introspective, when we take time for prayer, “give up” or fast from things that distract us or are unhealthy, and when we offer ourselves – our time, money, physical efforts – to assist others in need.
Even as we acknowledge on Fat Tuesday that all our feasting and celebrations of life are gifts from our loving and generous God, we look ahead toward the season of Lent and acknowledge that God’s love and generosity culminated in the gift of the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
Happy Feast!
Tuesday, Feb. 21, marks a significant day in both popular and religious culture since the Middle Ages. It is the day before the Christian celebration of Ash Wednesday – the beginning of the season of Lent, and is known variously as Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Pancake Day, Fasnacht Day, or the last day of Carnival.
Fat Tuesday is the English translation of “Mardi Gras,” originally a three-day celebration before Lent. The purpose was to consume all spoilable foods such as meat, fish, eggs, and milk prior to the 40-day fast of Lent. “Shrove” Tuesday is a translation of the Latin word “shrive” — to hear confessions, denoting an aspect of cleansing and self-sacrifice in preparation for Lent.
The title “Pancake Day” comes from the English traditions of using up the flour, eggs, and milk in order to make pancakes and fritters, as well as participating in Pancake races wherein women would run pre-designated courses holding a hot skillet and flipping a pancake three times while Across the Channel in France children go around their neighborhoods in masks demanding pancakes or fritters.
In Province, an old adage stated that if one held a coin in the left hand and flipped a pancake with the right hand, he or she would become rich. And in Brie, the first pancake of a batch was given to the hen who laid the eggs used to make them. Incidentally, it was always considered bad luck to drop a pancake on the floor while flipping them!
German-American communities, especially in Pennsylvania and Ohio celebrated Fasnacht Day with the eating of sweet, cake-type doughnuts, and games and music. “Carnival” comes from the Latin carne vale – farewell to the flesh – at one time an entire season of frivolity and feasting in parts of Europe, South American, and French-Catholic communities along the U.S. Gulf Coast such as New Orleans. The season would culminate with Mardi Gras.
Today we see a creative tension between the boisterous, public revelry and carousing sometimes associated with our Americanized Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday celebrations and a more subdued, methodical “getting our house in order physically and spiritually” celebration.
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| King cake is a popular Mardi Gras treat. |
Even as we acknowledge on Fat Tuesday that all our feasting and celebrations of life are gifts from our loving and generous God, we look ahead toward the season of Lent and acknowledge that God’s love and generosity culminated in the gift of the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
Happy Feast!
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