Why Do We Celebrate Shrove Tuesday?
By Eye Magazine published 20 February, 2012 No CommentsShrove Tuesday – more popularly known these days as Pancake Day, has been around for many years and is a regular event around February every year. But have you any idea where it originated and why we continue to celebrate it? Well, here’s the answer!
When is Shrove Tuesday? In the Christian calendar there is a period of fasting each year called Lent – a period that ends on Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday and Shrove Tuesday always falls on the day before. Shrove Tuesday falls 47 days before Easter Sunday so the date varies from year to year and falls between the 3rd of February and the 9th of March. This year’s date is Tuesday February 21st. The name Shrove comes from the old word “shrive” which means to confess. On Shrove Tuesday, in the Middle Ages, people used to confess their sins so they received forgiveness before the season of Lent began.
Why are Pancakes eaten on Shrove Tuesday? Lent is traditionally a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday was always the last chance for people in the Middle Ages to indulge themselves and to use up the foods that weren’t allowed in Lent. Pancakes were eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.
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