Shrove Tuesday, Carnival, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday?

Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the main penitent period of the year begins, Lent, this moveable feast, in 2023 will be on February 21st, people throughout history have indulged for the last time prior to Ash Wednesday a day of fasting.

The origins of the name Shrove come from the term Shrive which means to absolve, this is in reference to going to confession during Shrovetide, the week leading up to Lent, which culminates in Shrove Tuesday. This is well documented with its first concrete mention occurring around 1000AD from Ælfric of Eynsham's "Ecclesiastical Institutes" it details the period of Shrovetide being one of confession and preparation for Lent. One tradition that emerged during the period, which we should fully embrace is the ringing of church bells on Shove Tuesday, this was always done to remind those who had not done so to attend confession before Ash Wednesday. While I recommend obtaining absolution of our sins through the sacrament of confession during the days before Shrove Tuesday, the bells ringing will be a cogent reminder to us all, of Lent approaching. Known by many names such as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras in French, the overall theme is the same, the using up or enjoying of all things, we should be abstaining from during the 40 days or so of Lent, however in places like New Orleans this had led to significantly non Catholic behaviour and like all major Catholic feasts the secular realm encroaches and besmirches the tradition.

A similar problem emerges in such festivals as Carnival in Italy, a day of excess and partying in which people would dress up in masks which originated in Venice. The church in a reaction to the excess attempted to reclaim the festival in 1748, Pope Benedict XIV instituted the Forty hours of Carnival, a period of prayers and Eucharistic Adoration this had a plenary indulgence attached, for anyone who embraced the penitential nature of this period and confessed their sins.

Seen slightly differently around the world but in England known as pancake day, it is observed very differently in the modern church in many aspects. While many people still have pancakes, they do not at all observe the reason for the pancakes. During Lent’s past the reason pancakes where chosen is because it allowed families to use up the last of their eggs, milk, butter, and meat products as during lent they would abstain from meat and animal products, of course now in the Roman calendar there are only two days of fasting, and a handful of meatless Fridays, so the day is practiced in an almost completely symbolic way.

While not even many traditional Catholics go on bread and water fasts during lent, one thing that we could do is to perhaps take, Shrove Tuesday slightly more seriously, in-fact maybe this year we could expand it to include Shrovetide, slowly getting rid of all the snacks and celebratory food stuffs from our homes, but also start to ponder on our Lent. Getting our devotions, meditations and penance planned out, perhaps even just fasting Monday through Saturday by not eating snacks and keeping meals to a minimum size, or even fasting on 2 or 3 days a week.

Having done a meatless Lent I can tell you it is not fun, however it is not supposed to be, there are great spiritual benefits from fasting and abstinence that outweigh the minor discomfort. We will be publishing a guide to minimum requirements for Lent shortly; we outline the new and old calendars requirements, plus a range of material that could be helpful to the period of Lent in your spiritual lives.