Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (detail), 1559
Observed by	Followers of many Christian denominations and common custom
Type	Christian
Date	In seventh week before Easter, day before Ash Wednesday
2017 date	February 28
2018 date	February 13
Frequency	annual
Related to	Ash Wednesday Mardi Gras

Shrove Tuesday (also known in Commonwealth countries as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake day) is the day in February or March immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), which is celebrated in some countries by consuming pancakes. In others, especially those where it is called Mardi Gras or some translation thereof, this is a carnival day, and also the last day of "fat eating" or "gorging" before the fasting period of Lent.

This moveable feast is determined by Easter. The expression "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word shrive, meaning "absolve". Shrove Tuesday is observed by many Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Roman Catholics, who "make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with."

Being the last day of the liturgical season historically known as Shrovetide, before the penitential season of Lent, related popular practices, such as indulging in food that one sacrifices for the upcoming forty days, are associated with Shrove Tuesday celebrations, before commencing the fasting and religious obligations associated with Lent. The term Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday.

The tradition of marking the start of Lent has been documented for centuries. Ælfric of Eynsham's "Ecclesiastical Institutes" from around 1000 AD states: "In the week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him as he then may hear by his deeds what he is to do [in the way of penance]". The association between pancakes and Shrove Tuesday may have arisen as it permits foods which are discouraged from being eaten during the Lenten season, such as butter, eggs, and fat to be used up. Christians use these ingredients during Shrovetide to make pancakes or other rich foods, such as fasnachts and pączki.