For those of you from England, today is also Mardi Gras and Shrove Tuesday, and a whole batch of other stuff. But all we are about is the pancakes right?
How could you not be deeply into those, anyway? The Christian meaning of Shrove Tuesday is the day when people eat, drink, and get merry before the start of Lent. Lent is the month before Easter and depending on your denomination it has a variety of customs including fasting or giving something up.
This year, since I am in a Muslim country, I am collecting the customs of a few different denominations, and trying them out. So tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, I will fast from dawn to dusk, which is a Catholic practice.
Then I won’t eat meat, fat, eggs or birds on Fridays for the rest of Lent, which is practised in a lot of churches. And finally, I plan to fast dawn to dusk for the whole of Holy Week, which is the week preceding the Triduum, which are the three days of Easter proper. I think it will be an interesting insight into the different Christian practises around this, which is our most important festivals.
But until then, bring on the pancakes!!!