Fat Tuesday. The day before Lent begins. Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras, in French) also known as Shrove Tuesday. Shrove comes from a word that means “to hear confession”. The idea is that on the day before Lent, we confess our sins and we eat stuff that’s fattening… why the fat? Because in Lent people often give up fattening foods for Lent. And so, people made food-pancakes, specifically-that used up their eggs, milk, butter.. Thus the term Pancake Tuesday.
We celebrated Pancake Monday. Jim made pancakes yesterday. And tonight, we celebrated Fat Tuesday by eating M&M’s (peanut butter-my favorites!) and cheesecake and watching “Miss Congeniality”. Let’s not analyze that, except to say it’s just a fun movie. But back to Fat Tuesday…I didn’t empty out any fats in the house, I didn’t do any confessing… I’m just going about my life as normal, except that I am trying to figure out what I need to do–or not do–this Lent.
And so, I go to bed with a full stomach, having half-celebrated Fat Tuesday, anticipating Lent, which begins in about 90 minutes.
