Our Fearless Leader already wished you all a happy Mardi Gras (because today is the actual Mardi Gras), and has provided us with lots of Carnival news, info, and music. I’m here to let you in on a Mardi Gras tradition that you can probably find in your own community:  the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper, usually found at Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, and Catholic parishes. So what is Shrove Tuesday?

In liturgical churches which observe a set calendar of seasons and feast days, the end of the season of Epiphany (which begins on January 6, AKA Twelfth Night, and yes it all ties into Carnival) is Shrove Tuesday. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent. Lent is the preparation season for Easter, and is marked by calls for repentance, self-denial, daily Scripture reading, and other acts of sacrifice, and many churches offer the sacrament of Confession/Penance. People who confess are said to have been “shriven”, hence Shrove Tuesday. But why pancakes?

First, it’s not just pancakes–there are a lot of other things that are traditional Shrove Tuesday foods. Probably the most well-known one in the US is the German Fastnacht, which is more like a doughnut. Mmmmm doughnuts. I grew up in a Polish-American family, so we had Pączki that my immigrant grandmother made–in her case, a cake doughnut stuffed with prunes and pan fried in lard and then finished in the oven. They were so good that the nuns at my Polish-American Catholic grammar school would casually ask me on the Monday before Shrove Tuesday if she was making them again this year.

And in other places, the humble pancake ruled. During the time where the church was the center of community life because populations were more homogeneous (and sometimes subject to a state religion) the town would get together for games and eating. The tradition still continues in small pockets, but is largely now confined to individual parishes who hold suppers that are open to the public.

OK, but why those foods? Part of Lenten devotion used to include a strict diet where people didn’t eat meat, dairy products, or eggs all throughout Lent. Pancakes and doughnuts were an easy way to use up those foods, and to share with the larger community, so now many churches, and some communities, have Shrove Tuesday pancake suppers.

I’m headed off to start setting up for mine in a bit. We’ll welcome our members, their friends and extended families, our literal neighbors, and anyone who saw the announcement or the banner on the church and came in. We won’t proselytize anyone, and all the proceeds will go back into the community. Or you can do takeout and eat at home. I hope you’ll consider having your dinner at a pancake supper tonight. Laissez bon temps rouler!

It’s time for “Iko, Iko”: