Happy Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday....

Well, today is the day before Lent. We refer to it here as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras but in England it's known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. Shrove is the past tense of shrive which means 'to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of confession and doing penance'. Shrove Tuesday is the last day of "shrovetide", the English equivalent to Carnival that developed separately in Latin Europe (and brought to South America) or Mardi Gras here. The festival is widely associated with eating foods such as pancakes, which is why it's also called Pancake Day, because pancakes used up ingredients such as fat and eggs, which was frowned upon during Lent, a time of fasting.

So tomorrow is the first day of Lent or Ash Wednesday. When Jamie was fresh off the island, back when he was in New York doing his internship, he had a very embarrassing encounter on Ash Wednesday. He was in the elevator with someone and noticed that they had something on their forehead. So being the gentleman that he is, as well as being a Protestant Englishman, he kindly let the man know that he had something on his forehead. The guy responded by saying it was Ash Wednesday and that was there on purpose.

My experience was much different. As I went to a Catholic School, we would always go to Mass on Ash Wednesday and always tease the kids whose ashes were not that dark saying they were not as holy as the others! What can I say, we were kids.

Happy Feasting!!!