Shrove Tuesday - celebrating in the home and links!

So, what's up with Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras / Carnival? Why is this celebration such an important part of Lent in the liturgical traditions (especially Anglican and Roman Catholic)? Seems a bit odd to usher in a season of penitance and spiritual asceticism with a day of frivolity, excess, and indulgence, doesn't it?



Gertrud Mueller Nelson, in her book To Dance With God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration, compares "Fat Tuesday" to cleaning out a drawer. In order to do a thorough job, one must dump out all the contents of the drawer in order to set it back in order. Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras) is the dumping out and the rest of Lent is the setting back in order. This is exactly how I clean, so it makes a great deal of sense to me! This day of wildness and excess helps us get ready to enter into the seriousness of Lent.



(The picture is from the Pancake Day Race at Olney in Buckinghamshire which has been held for more than 550 years.)



So, how does your friendly, bloggyneighbor and Anglican celebrate on Shrove Tuesday? Read on!



In the past, we've been blessed with a parish that put on a great Shrove Tuesday celebration with lots of pancakes and some Cajun cooking, too. However, this year, since we are borrowing space from another church, we are unable to have a parish celebration. Instead, we'll have to be a bit creative and find ways to celebrate this day in our home.



It is traditional to eat something sweet and fried, so the kids and I will go out for Krispy Kreme doughnuts (oh, to be near the home of the original Krispy Kreme!) either mid-morning or after lunch. But our real celebration will begin in the evening!



Shrove Tuesday celebrations can certainly be done with just your family, but how much fun and more festive to include extended family or friends! We are getting together with our neighbors for our celebration. Here's what we have planned:

• Costumes: both families have extensive dress ups, so we will let the kids dress up in the wildest costumes they can!


• Food: Anglicans love their pancake suppers on Shrove Tuesday, so we will have dueling griddles going with pancakes and sausage. Nothing fancy - just "Aunt Jemima"!


• Alleluia banner: "Burying the Alleluia" is a new part of our Lent this year. We will do this by making a big "Alleluia" banner at our Shrove Tuesday celebration. (Dear Neighbor and I will have plain banners with "Alleluia" written on them for the kids to decorate - one for each family.) At the end of the evening, these will be rolled up and put away until Easter.


• Close in silence: At the end of the evening, the costumes will come off, we'll light some candles, and gather for a short prayer. Then we'll go home quietly, ready to enter into a faithful Lent.

Some more fun links:

• History of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and some fun vintage photos


• Some traditional pancake recipes


• A bit of history

Do you have any plans for Shrove Tuesday? I'd love to hear about your favorite traditions - or a memorable Fat Tuesday! Leave a comment (and link if you have one)!

Jeanne from At A Hen's Pace has an excellent guest post full of ideas and recipes for Shrove Tuesday - so go by and visit!