Since, as my mother said, we couldn’t be in New Orleans last night, we had pancakes for dinner instead.
Actually, Pancake Tuesday is a totally new-to-me concept since coming here. Or not *totally*, because when we lived in California with a British friend on hand, she would do pancakes on Fat Tuesday. But aside from that, totally new to me. Is it something people other places in America do or am I right in thinking of it is a European(British?) tradition?
(I was making maple syrup for the pancakes, and as I usually do, as I was waiting for the sugar to boil away, I stood there watching it and thinking, “Until the blood runs clear,” which I assume is PERFECTLY NORMAL and EVERYONE ELSE DOES IT.)
Anyway, now it’s Lent, which is of no importance to me at all, except I’ve decided I’ll take advantage of other people’s traditions and give up junk food for forty days. God knows (aheh. so to speak) I should anyway, so solidarity with somebody else’s religious traditions!
I also need to write 3K a day during Lent in order to finish this wretched book. I suspect the phrase “ahahahaha” applies. Except I really have to. :}
It’s TOTALLY a thing in America. Most Catholic and Episcopal (and probably Lutheran and others) have Shrove Tuesday Pancake Suppers. It makes for a good fundraiser, for one thing. (Shrove Tuesday refers to being shriven of your sins before Ash Wednesday, btw.)
Oh, and if you want to be technical about it, Lent is more like 46 days or so, since Sundays don’t count (they’re feast days forever and always). It lasts from Ash Wednesday through the day before Easter.
*Most Catholic and Episcopal, etc. PARISHES.
It’s not just an American thing. We always had Shrove Tuesday here in Australia. I was taught (perhaps wrongly) that is like a last hoorah before lent. It was to get rid of all the food you are not supposed to eat during lent.