SHROVE TUESDAY

By Janet Smith

Shrove Tuesday- Pancake Day

When I was asked to do a write up for the blog I thought I would refer to the internet to see what it had to say about Shrove Tuesday and so the following is some of the many details that I found.

Shrove Tuesday is an ancient religious festival day, dating back to the early Christian times.  

The name Shrove comes from the old word, "shrive," which means to confess and from the custom of ringing the "shriving" bell to summon the people to church to be "shriven"  -- that is, to confess their sins at the beginning of Lent.

Shrove Tuesday is celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday and is therefore the final day before the commencement of Lent, a Christian festival leading up to Easter Sunday (Easter Day).

  Shrove Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year and falls between February 3 and March 9.  Shrove Tuesday is 47 days and not 41 days before Easter because Sundays are always a day of celebration in the Christian church and so they cannot be included in the 40 fast days of Lent. 

     At this time, certain foods are given up for the duration of Lent, such as eggs, milk, meat and rich buttery dishes.  On Shrove Tuesday, families eat up all the rich foods left in their pantries.  One way they use up the eggs, milk and fats in the house is to add flour and make special pancakes!

    

So, in keeping with this tradition, some 60 people at SPPC enjoyed 

a wonderful supper of pancakes, smothered in maple syrup and

butter along with sausages, bacon and fruit, with ice cream cones

to round off the meal.  Was it ever good!  Our thanks to the cooks 

and all those who helped make this such a great meal.

Mmmm... good

   By the way, this is our second pancake supper and hopefully we'll have another one next year on March 4, 2014, and we'd love

to see you there.  If you want pancakes but don't feel like cooking them, come and enjoy the fellowship with us.

Ed. Note:  Thanks to Janet for sharing her pictures as well as her words.  To enlarge the photos, simply hover the cursor over them and click.