We are planning our annual pancake supper for shrove Tuesday.
Why do we do it?
Well, it's a tradition that sort of comes from the idea to get rid of all the eggs, dairy, and fatty meats - "Fat Tuesday" aka "Mardi Gras." So that on Ash Wednesday, you can start the proper Lenten fast where you abstain from eggs, dairy, and meat. We call this the "Daniel Fast" now, but it's been a traditional fast in the eastern and western churches since... well, since.
We are as merry as possible, because the next day, we enter into a time of repentance and we don't celebrate so much, for 40 days, until Easter.
If you have been celebrating Lent without the pancakes beforehand, you are missing a good time.
If you are never celebrated Lent, well, it's something to be tried. There is really something to entering into the church calendar, and the period of repentance, making some sort of effort to actively draw you closer to God - it makes Easter so much brighter, such a celebration, and an eagerly anticipated highlight of the year.
You can see a full list of the traditions at wikipedia. But let me say a few things at this moment:
There will be no shrove Tuesday pancake race. Apparently ladies in the UK have had pancake races since 1445, the genesis being that someone was late to church and running out of the house with her frying pan and pancakes. I am busy enough making all the sausage and bacon without having to run around with a pan of pancakes.
Now, let me just say that though I love the Filipinos and the Polish, there are traditions of theirs I do not want to follow:
from Wikipedia:
"In the Philippines a popular treat is bibingka, a pancake made from rice flour and topped with white cheese, butter, sugar, salted duck's egg, and coconut. Bibingka is baked on hot coals in a clay pot lined with a banana leaf. It is traditionally served with salabat or ginger tea.
In Poland, Pączki and Faworki are traditionally eaten on Fat Thursday (Polish: Tłusty czwartek), i.e. the one before Shrove Tuesday. However, in areas of Michigan with large Polish communities, they are eaten on "Fat Tuesday" due to French influence. Shrove Tuesday itself is sometimes referred to as "śledzik" ("little herring") and it is customary to have some pickled herring with vodka (Polish: wódka) that day."
Here is our plan:
6:30 pm: we eat pancakes, egg casserole, sausage, bacon, orange juice, milk, coffee, and maybe some fruit if anyone brought some.
7:30 or 8pm: we burn the palms from last year outside, in order to make ashes for Ash Wednesday the next day.
Simple, but a really nice time. You can come! It's next Tuesday, February 5.
Why do we do it?
Well, it's a tradition that sort of comes from the idea to get rid of all the eggs, dairy, and fatty meats - "Fat Tuesday" aka "Mardi Gras." So that on Ash Wednesday, you can start the proper Lenten fast where you abstain from eggs, dairy, and meat. We call this the "Daniel Fast" now, but it's been a traditional fast in the eastern and western churches since... well, since.
We are as merry as possible, because the next day, we enter into a time of repentance and we don't celebrate so much, for 40 days, until Easter.
If you have been celebrating Lent without the pancakes beforehand, you are missing a good time.
If you are never celebrated Lent, well, it's something to be tried. There is really something to entering into the church calendar, and the period of repentance, making some sort of effort to actively draw you closer to God - it makes Easter so much brighter, such a celebration, and an eagerly anticipated highlight of the year.
You can see a full list of the traditions at wikipedia. But let me say a few things at this moment:
There will be no shrove Tuesday pancake race. Apparently ladies in the UK have had pancake races since 1445, the genesis being that someone was late to church and running out of the house with her frying pan and pancakes. I am busy enough making all the sausage and bacon without having to run around with a pan of pancakes.
Now, let me just say that though I love the Filipinos and the Polish, there are traditions of theirs I do not want to follow:
from Wikipedia:
"In the Philippines a popular treat is bibingka, a pancake made from rice flour and topped with white cheese, butter, sugar, salted duck's egg, and coconut. Bibingka is baked on hot coals in a clay pot lined with a banana leaf. It is traditionally served with salabat or ginger tea.
In Poland, Pączki and Faworki are traditionally eaten on Fat Thursday (Polish: Tłusty czwartek), i.e. the one before Shrove Tuesday. However, in areas of Michigan with large Polish communities, they are eaten on "Fat Tuesday" due to French influence. Shrove Tuesday itself is sometimes referred to as "śledzik" ("little herring") and it is customary to have some pickled herring with vodka (Polish: wódka) that day."
Here is our plan:
6:30 pm: we eat pancakes, egg casserole, sausage, bacon, orange juice, milk, coffee, and maybe some fruit if anyone brought some.
7:30 or 8pm: we burn the palms from last year outside, in order to make ashes for Ash Wednesday the next day.
Simple, but a really nice time. You can come! It's next Tuesday, February 5.
posted by Admin at
6:44 AM Monday, January 28, 2008