Today is Shrove Tuesday. I realize that I have not heard from local congregations announcing their Shrove Tuesday pancake supper this evening as I have in past years. I have asked others, customers and staff, about pancake suppers at their congregations this evening. The reply has been the same. “No, we aren’t having one this year.”
A few years ago, as I remember it, most of the congregations held Shrove Tuesday pancake suppers. Now I can’t locate any that are offering one in Seattle.
Questions arise:
1. Is this only a Seattle situation or are congregations across the country forgoing Shrove Tuesday events?
2. I wonder why has this happened? What am I missing?
3. Has the penitence of Ash Wednesday displaced the last minute celebration of Shrove Tuesday?
I don’t have answers today, only questions.
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2 comments:
I hate to be one of those people who blames everything on the economy... but could it be the mindset from the recession? Shrove Tuesday is a party, and I have noticed significantly fewer parties over the last few years. As people, and groups of people feel a financial bind celebrations becomes smaller and far and few in-between because they are thought of as frivolous and unessential to survival. The celebrations that survive are those that are in honor of gratitude. Easter is in honor of gratitude but Shrove Tuesday is by definition a gluttonous holiday; with most everyone still watching sales and cutting coupons perhaps Shrove Tuesdays comes with guilt where it is meant to come with a seance of lighthearted frivolity, and therefore is going uncelebrated. It will be interesting to see if these same congregations have larger Easter celebrations than they used to.
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