Shrove Tuesday will be celebrated this week, in advance of Ash Wednesday, the first
day of Lent. It is a day of penitence, to clean the soul and a last chance to celebrate
and feast before the start of Lent.
Historically, Christians would undergo the ritual of shriving, where they confessed their
sins and would receive forgiveness for them. Through receiving forgiveness for sins,
people are released from the guilt of having caused them.
It is believed that traditionally a ‘shriving bell’ was rung to call people to confession;
today, in some places, it is still rung, but it is called the ‘pancake bell’. This name arose
from the story of a woman of Olney, Buckinghamshire, who in 1445 heard the shriving
bell whilst making pancakes and ran to the church, still in her apron and clutching her
frying pan.
Christians often celebrate and indulge in food on Shrove Tuesday, because Lent is a time
of abstinence with many Christians choosing to give up certain foods. In the past, in
order that foods were not wasted, on Shrove Tuesday families would use up all the foods
that would expire during the forty days of Lent. Pancakes became widely associated
with Shrove Tuesday because they were a dish that could use up perishable items like
eggs, milk and fat.
Please pray that the Lord will grant strength to all
those giving things up during the Lenten period.
Malvern Deanery – Rural Dean: David Nichol; Lay Chair: David Sparkes
Canterbury: Archbishop Justin Welby with Bishop of Dover (Vacant)
Down and Dromore (Ireland): Bishop Harold Miller
Tito (Chile): Bishop Héctor with Bp Zavala Muñoz (Santiago)
