Tuesday 21st February was Shrove Tuesday. We gathered on the PRIMARY campus, to burn the palms from Palm Sunday last year to create ash for Ash Wednesday.

The day preceding Ash Wednesday is popularly known as Shrove Tuesday. It is also frequently called Pancake Tuesday or Fat Tuesday as well as by its Latin name, Mardi Gras, which when translated from the French also means “Fat Tuesday.”

But it is the name “Shrove” that shows its religious origins. Shrove is the past tense of the English verb “Shrive” which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of confession and by doing penance.

Dating back to 1000 AD, over the years Shrove Tuesday not only became a day for Confession but a time for Catholics to feast on eggs, sugar and dairy which are traditionally restricted during the Lenten fast. Not only was Shrove Tuesday a last chance to gorge on such foods but it was also a way to use them up before the fast began. The feast of these foods would become pancakes, hence the name Pancake Tuesday. 

Shrove Tuesday remains an important day of observance for Catholics and Christians to prepare for Lent and the Lenten fast.