Shrove Tuesday forms an integral part of Christian calendar
that venerates ‘the eve of Lent’. Eve of Lent marks the forty
days and nights of fasting as well as prayers just before the Easter festival.
Historians came up with numerous findings
that were associated with the origin of Shrove Tuesday. The word ‘shrove’
has been derived from the English verb "shrive," which signifies the
act of obtaining forgiveness for one's sins through confession and undergoing
penance.
Needless to mention, Shrove Tuesday therefore
is a day where one confesses their sins and asks God for absolution. Earlier
it was feted by Anglo-Saxon Christians who used to confess before receiving
absolution. It took place sometime before ‘Lent’. According to them,
on this day there were gala feasts of pancakes thereby utilizing the supplies
of those food viz. fat, butter and eggs that were forbidden during austere Lent.
In England, Shrove Tuesday originated
as early as 1445 when several related festivals were organized, the best one
being the Pancake Day Race. It began at Olney in Buckinghamshire. Historians
claimed that the race originated when a woman heard the shriving bell thereby
summoning her to confession. It was the time when she was busy cooking pancakes.
She hurriedly went to the church wearing her apron and holding her frying pan.
Thus began a tradition that has lasted for over five hundred years.
Shrove Tuesday is popular in different
names. It is known as Mardi Gras, a French term which literally means "fat
Tuesday", Carnival in Latin which means “farewell to the flesh"
and Fasnacht, the Germanic "night of the fast".
An interesting fact that is related to
the origin of Shrove Tuesday can be cited here. The concept behind this practice
is found in ‘1 Corinthians 9:27, where the Apostle Paul states that "I
buffet my body and make it my slave..." It is a real irony that later people
gratified Shrove Tuesday as a day of merriment and extravagance, when people
indulged themselves in enjoyment to their fullest before the starting of Lent.
