The origins of Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day

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The 40-day season of Lent officially begins Ash Wednesday. With our Catholic friends, Anglicans worldwide traditionally ‘celebrate’ this day. But few of us can match our historical counterparts in observing any kind of Lenten fast, which traditionally also begins then.

Such, by the way, is the historical reason for Shrove Tuesday, the term used in many English-speaking countries for the day before. The word shrove, past tense of the old English verb shrive, referred to obtaining absolution for one's sins. In other words, Christians were expected to go to confession in preparation for the penitential season of turning to God.

An early church tradition advised abstention from anything killed, and the produce—like milk and eggs—of those animals. In pre-refrigeration days, that meant a lot of food had to be consumed so it wouldn't go bad during the weeks leading up to Easter. So many families would whip the households’ perishables into pancakes the day before Lent. The day thus became known as ‘Pancake Tuesday’, which in some quarters morphed into Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday).

The Farmer's Grace

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An out-of-town pastor had been invited to a men’s breakfast in the middle of a rural farming area, and found himself charmed by the company and atmosphere. Before they all dug into the hearty meal, the group's leader asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace.

“Lord, I hate buttermilk,” the fellow began. The pastor opened an eye to glance at him, wondering where this might be going.

“Lord, I hate lard!” the farmer proclaimed. Now the pastor was growing concerned.

“And Lord, you know I don't much care for raw flour,” he went on, without missing a beat.

The pastor once again opened an eye to peer around the room, and noticed many of the other men shifting in their seats uncomfortably.

“But Lord,” the farmer added, “when you mix them all together and bake them, I do love them warm fresh biscuits.

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“So Lord, when things come up that we don't like, when life gets hard, when we don't understand what you're saying to us, help us to just relax and wait until you are done mixing and baking. It will probably be even better than biscuits. Amen.”

How about that for great, down-to-earth wisdom worth considering when it comes to complicated situations?

While we find ourselves in a mix-up of so many things we don't, like the farmer, ‘really care for’, as we pray, trust and believe surely—as surely as God is God—something good will result.

We can’t know when or how, but “we [do] know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).