Lent

The last day of the month is Shove Tuesday, it's also known as Pancake Day and it is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of lent. In order to prepare for lent you used to have to get rid of all your eggs and milk products before Ash Wednesday. This is the reason why we have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. In some places it is a tradition to have a pancake race.

Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence for Roman Catholics. Fasting used to be much stricter in the old days. Meat, fish, egg and milk products were not allowed at all during lent, and you could have just one meal a day. It is not like this now. The old (over sixty) and the young (under seventeen) are exempt from fasting. The ill are equally exempt. Fasting is a way of being aware of Jesus is suffering.

Abstinence is when you eat one normal meal a day and have less for your two other meals. You also have to abstain from eating meat and if you are over twelve you are not exempt from this rule. You can eat fish though. Lent lasts for forty days, this is because Jesus spent forty days and forty nights fasting in the wilderness. During that time people usually either give something up or do something good that they wouldn't normally do. You not only do this for God, it also helps with self discipline. You tend to give up something you enjoy a lot like chocolate, sweets, your favourite drink, or food and some people may try to give up more than one thing or cut down on them. If you don't want to give something up then you can help the sick, old or anyone in need or some charitable cause.

Purple is used during lent as it represents mourning and therefore the crucifixion. Christians often go to church on Ash Wednesday were ashes are put on the forehead as mark, that means God created you from dust and you will one day return to dust.

The reason for this post is that I forgot that it was pancake day yesterday, and I gave up an invitation to have a pancake party! Grr...I want to learn how to make good pancakes from scratch and toss them high up into the air and still be able to catch it in a pan!