Join Us For Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday – Mardi Gras – Carnival

St. James celebrates its annual Shrove Tuesday Fish Dinner on March 4, beginning with lively music at 5:30pm and the meal at 6:00pm.

Even though I have been an Episcopalian for decades now, I still have to remind myself of the meaning of “Shrove”. It’s not a familiar word in today’s English. The origin is Anglo-Saxon/Middle English, deriving from the verb “shrive” which means to hear confessions and offer absolution. Shrovetide celebrations began the weeks before Lent and thus “shrove” came to mean “make merry”. In other countries this time is called Carnival.

The early Church incorporated pagan celebrations into their rituals, to have feasts before the fasting time of Lent.

Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras in French-speaking areas, was the last day of festivities, where all butter and eggs, all “fat” for cooking, had to be used up, thus began the tradition of pancakes and king cakes.

Even though New Orleans is famed for its Mardi Gras celebrations, Mobile claims the first Mardi Gras in the New World in 1703. The traditional gold, green, and purple beads symbolize power, faith, and justice.

May we enjoy food and fellowship at St. James this Shrove Tuesday, as we prepare for Ash Wednesday and the sacred season of Lent.

Let us pray the collect for Shrove Tuesday (Prayers for the Pilgrimage, p. 57):

O Lord, you who promise to us the “fat of the land” and save the best wine for last, we thank you for your generous provision in our lives and we ask that you would help us to live within your economy of abundance this day, so that we might be generous in word and in deed to all whom we meet. We pray this in the name of the One who makes more than enough. Amen