Fat Tuesday!

[Natasha]

OK..who knows the history of this day?
Can we go out and eat King Cake and get fat?

 

[Dee]

... Can we go out and eat King Cake and get fat?

You will if you eat King Cake!!!!

 

[glbirch]

OK..who knows the history of this day?
Can we go out and eat King Cake and get fat?

The day before the beginning of Lent is known as Shrove Tuesday. To shrive someone, in old-fashioned English (he shrives, he shrove, he has shriven OR he shrives, he shrived, he has shrived), is to hear his acknowledgment of his sins, to assure him of God's forgiveness,and to give him appropriate spiritual advice. The term survives today in ordinary usage in the expression "short shrift". To give someone short shrift is to pay very little attention to his excuses or problems. The longer expression is, "to give him short shrift and a long rope," which formerly meant to hang a criminal with a minimum of delay.

On Shrove Tuesday, many Christians make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with. Often they consult on these matters with a spiritual counselor, or receive shrift.

Shrove Tuesday is also called Fat Tuesday (in French, Mardi=Tuesday; gras=fat, as in "pate de foie gras", which is liver paste and very fatty), because on that day a thrifty housewife uses up the fats that she has kept around (the can of bacon drippings, or whatever) for cooking, but that she will not be using during Lent. Since pancakes are a standard way of using up fat, the day is also called Pancake Tuesday. In England, and perhaps elsewhere, the day is celebrated with pancake races. The contestants run a course while holding a griddle and flipping a pancake. Points are awarded for time, for number and height of flips, and number of times the pancake turns over. There are of course penalties for dropping the pancake.

And to give credit where credit is due, I cut and pasted the above from the following website: http://buffalolore.buffalonet.org\shrove\shrove.htm

 

[jonnythan]

I spent my first 18 years in New Orleans, so I think I'm disqualified from answering.

Around this time of year, I miss the city, the food, and the fun..

 

[Natasha]

glbirch : That was very interesting. Thanks for the info. I love pancakes..so now you got me hungry!

jonnythan:
New Orleans is one of the greatest cities in the world! I bet you must miss is something awful! I understand. I miss the city I was born in, and grew up in too.

 

[Natasha]

Dee:
You're a party pooper! I want my cake and to eat it too.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Everything is different in the islands. Holidays are celebrated in unique ways and the beginning of Lent is no exception. For some entirely inexplicable reason Mardi Gras in Cayman is celebrated - on Ash Wednesday!?!

 

[mania]

Honestly I absolutly dissagree with this concept of Shrove Tuesday. The Lent starts on Wendsday because this is the beggining of 40 days of Jesus Passion (it includes days spent on the desert without food or drink where Jesus was tempted by the Devil, then his glorious return to Jerusalem and the last week of his life). And because, according to the tradition, during this 40 days we should fast - as a reminder of fasting done by Jesus, Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the Lent when you can enjoy food, sweets, cakes etc. All of these should not be eaten starting Wendsday till the Easter Sunday - the day of Resurection. It's the same with having fun, dancing, going to parties etc - all of this is forbiden (at least in the Roman Catholic Church). I even know people who really fast for the wholy 40 days - eating only bread and drinking only water.
Mania

 

[Snowbear]

I even know people who really fast for the wholy 40 days - eating only bread and drinking only water.

I thought fasting means no eating at all?

 

[Zippsy]

I thought fasting means no eating at all?

Uh oh. I thought it meant that we had to eat really fast. No wonder the nuns were always cracking my knuckles.

Incidentally, Mania. You'd may be surprised to learn that the church kind of teaches slightly different things in different places. Your version is not really different from glbirches'.