Lent is just around the corner, but not before we’ve had our pancakes! Lent is the period when we commemorate the 40 days that Jesus spent in the Wilderness, being tempted by the Devil, before getting started on his ministry. It is a time for making resolutions: giving up chocolate, booze, swearing, or whatever else you think you shouldn’t be doing. And it is generally held to be a pretty gloomy time of the year, with not a lot of merriment going on.
This Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday, or pancake day to most of us. It is the day on which we binge on pancakes, eating up the last of the good stuff before heading into Lent when it’s stale biscuits and water for 40 days. The name Shrove Tuesday comes from the verb shrive, which means to get forgiveness by doing penance, presumably a necessity for those of us who tend to spend Shrove Tuesday hurling pancakes up into the air and getting them stuck on other people’s kitchen ceilings.
And then there’s Ash Wednesday. This is linked to the day when Jesus was entering Jerusalem on an ass, cheered by the people who scattered palm leaves on the road in front of him. He was on his way to his crucifixion, less than a week later, but at the time everyone was cheering and celebrating. Palm Sunday, is celebrated on the Sunday before Easter, and palms are handed out in church in memory of what happened on the road to Jerusalem that day. But on Ash Wednesday, the palms used in last year’s services are burnt and the ashes are gathered up and daubed on the foreheads of people coming to church.
As announced in Village News this month, we are holding a service in church for Ash Wednesday – 14th February – to get us into the Lent mood. It’s at the slightly unusual time of 10 o’clock, and we hope to see you there. In the meantime, good luck with the pancakes!