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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

 Feb 15, 2007

FEBRUARY EVENTS  - Part 2 (February 15 to 21)

February 15 is Fat Thursday (Polish,Tłusty czwartek, German Fetter Donnerstag or Schmutziger Donnerstag) is a traditional Polish and German feast marking the last Thursday before Lent (because Lent is fast time such opportunity arrives on Easter).

It is similar to, but should not be confused with, the French festival of Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"). Traditionally it is a day of gluttony and belly-worship, when people meet in their homes or caf?s with their friends and relatives and eat large quantities of sweets, cakes and other meals forbidden during Lent. Among the most popular all-national dishes served on that day are pączki or berliner, fist-sized donuts filled with rose marmalade, and faworki, French dough fingers served with lots of powdered sugar.

In Italy, Gioved? Grasso (Fat Thursday) is celebrated, too, but is not very different from Marted? Grasso (Fat Tuesday). It is also similar to the Greek custom of Tsiknopempti (loosely translatable as "Barbecue Thursday"), which involves the massive consumption of barbecued meat.

Lent, the Christian period of fasting before Easter, often begins in February (although it can start as late as March 8^th).

The day before Lent is called Shrove Tuesday,  the term used in the English-speaking countries of the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia.  This year 2007 the day is February 20^th, it is also known as “Pancake Tuesday,” the custom of eating pancakes is said to have begun because it was the practice to try to use up the fat and drippings to fry the hot cakes before entering the meatless days of Lent.

The traditional pancake is a very thin one, (like a French cr?pe) which is served immediately sprinkled with caster sugar (confectionary, superfine or powdered sugar in the United States) and a dash of fresh lemon juice or alternatively drizzled with golden syrup.

The word shrove is a past tense of the English verb "shrive," which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by confessing and doing penance. Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving (confession) that Anglo-Saxon Christians were expected to receive immediately before Lent.

Shrove Tuesday is the last day of "shrovetide," which is the English equivalent to the Carnival tradition that developed separately out of the countries of Latin Europe. In countries of the Carnival tradition, the day before Ash Wednesday is known either as the "Tuesday of Carnival" (in Spanish-speaking countries, "Martes de Carnaval," in Portuguese-speaking countries, "Ter?a-feira de Carnaval") or "Fat Tuesday" (in French-speaking countries, "Mardi Gras," in Italian-speaking countries, "Marted? Grasso").

The term "Shrove Tuesday" is not widely known in the English-speaking United States, especially in those regions which celebrate Mardi Gras on the day before Ash Wednesday.

February 21 is Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It occurs forty-six days before Easter, but Lent is nevertheless considered forty days long, because Sundays in this period are not counted as days of penance. It falls on different dates from year to year, according to the date of Easter; it can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.

At Masses and Services of worship on this day, worshippers are blessed with ashes by the celebrating priest or minister. The priest or minister marks the forehead of each participant with black ashes, in the shape of a cross, which the worshipper traditionally retains until washing it off after sundown. In many Christian churches, the minister of ashes may also be a layperson or non-clergyman . The symbolism echoes the ancient Near Eastern tradition of throwing ash over one's head signifying repentance before God (as related numerous times in the Bible). The priest or minister offers the worshipper an instruction while applying the ashes. These are three examples:

"Remember, man, that you are dust

And unto dust you shall return."

(Latin: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.)

This wording comes from Genesis 3:19.

or

"Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel."

or

"Repent, and hear the good news."

The ashes are prepared by burning palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebrations and mixing them with olive oil as a fixative. In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence (from meat), and repentance—a day of contemplating one's transgressions. The ashes are sacramentals, not a sacrament. The penitential psalms are read.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, which lasts until the Easter Vigil. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are permitted to consume only one full meal each day, which may be supplemented by two smaller meals, which together should not equal the full meal. These days are also days of abstinence from meat, as are all Fridays in Lent. Traditionally, the fast lasted from Ash Wednesday until after the celebration of the Easter Vigil on Saturday.

The Anglican Book of Common Prayer designates Ash Wednesday as a day of fasting.

Hartson Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net