By Laura Rahill
This Tuesday and Wednesday welcome a double holiday celebration. Shrove Tuesday is commonly known as the day prior to the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. It is also widely known as the festive celebration of Mardi Gras.
Mardi Gras can be simply translated from French to English as “Fat Tuesday.” The word “shrove,” the past tense of “shrive,” is an old English word which means to hear a confession, and in doing so to become absolved from sin. Shrove Tuesday is a reminder to Catholics and many Christians that we are entering a season of penance.
In my own beloved part of the world, Ireland, Shrove Tuesday is usually called Pancake Tuesday. People will make pancakes and many restaurants will serve them as a one-day special. This tradition began when Christians had to clear out their pantries in preparation for Ash Wednesday. Today, many people will sacrifice one thing they love for Lent, but in the past it was not uncommon for people to give up all meats, eggs, milk and other rich foods for 40 days.
This practice is done in remembrance of Jesus, who fasted in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Rather than throwing out the fats and eggs, the Irish now make pancakes as a small feast before the fast.
Mardi Gras was first celebrated in the United States in the 1700s, when a colony of French soldiers landed in what is known today as Mobile, Ala. In various spots in the United States, Mardi is marked by festivals and other events.
New Orleans hosts a huge street celebration and parade complete with masquerades and dancing. People throw trinkets, which are often brightly colored beads, to the crowds lining the streets. Mardi Gras is a big celebration today and is often considered somewhat hedonistic, but like Shrove Tuesday its roots lie in the Christian calendar as the last celebration before Lent on Ash Wednesday.
The day after the celebration of Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day and Mardi Gras is a more reflective observance. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lenten season, considered a time of penance and fasting. Lent ends on Easter, the day of Christ’s resurrection. It is through this resurrection that Christians attain redemption.
On Ash Wednesday it is common to see many people wearing ashes on their forehead. People are marked with ashes as an act of humility and as a reminder that life ends on earth. This is reiterated in the phrase “man is dust and unto dust you shall return.” The ashes are made from the blessed palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration.
In the past, many Christians who had committed serious sins preformed public penance. They would be sprinkled with ashes and turned away from the church just as the first man Adam was turned away from the Garden of Eden for his sins. After 40 days of penance, the sinners would attain redemption and be allowed to return to the church cleared of their sins.
Today, Christians receive the ashes out of devotion. Across the United States, Ash Wednesday is celebrated by many Christian faiths, and more Protestant and evangelical churches are now holding some sort of Ash Wednesday service.
