[afraidfortherepublic]

It’s in memory of when the Jews were hounded out of their homes and they had to flee and didn’t have time to let the bread rise (hence unleavened bread). We use unleavened bread in our ceremonies too (hosts). And many references to “the lamb”. They marked their door posts with the blood of the lamb and the marked houses were “passed over” and lived for another day. Our Easter is called Pasch, or Paschal, which is a derivitive of the Hebrew word for Passover. They get rid of the flour, cake mixes, etc. because they use only potato flour during Passover — not wheat.

I am a Catholic trying to describe the meaning of the Jewish traditions, so please forgive any inaccuracies. This is what I was told and how I remember it from my co-worker’s explanation.

I did not know about stripping the kitchen of all leavening and flour and starting over until I knew Fern. I haven’t seen her for years, but I’ve been thinking about her a lot because I’m currently doing the same to my pantry so that I can paint. Not as extreme a strip, but when I look at the age of some of the packages in the back of the cupboards, I’m thinking that it is not such a bad idea. :)

[SuziQ]

It wasn't from the Jews being 'hounded' out of their homes, that they started the unleavened bread tradition. It came about from the Flight from Egypt, and Moses told them to prepare for the journey by going ahead and baking the loaves, not giving the dough time to rise. He also told the Jews to mark the lintels above their doors with the blood of the animal that was killed to provide food for their journey. This was the way the Angel of Death would identify those homes belonging to the "Chosen People", and he would pass over them, hence the term "Passover".

We saw a TV show several years ago talking about a strange outbreak of mental illness and death in the Middle Ages. The study determined that it was the toxin, Ricin, showing up in rye flour, that was the cause. It was the Jewish habit of preparing for Passover, by throwing out old flour, etc, that saved the lives of many of them, because they threw out old stocks of flour, so didn't ingest the Ricin.

I don't know if it's a geographical, or ethnic thing, or what, but I don't remember ever hearing about Shrove Tuesday, or having pancakes on that day, when I was growing up in S. Mississippi. It was always just Mardi Gras for us. I never heard of it until we moved up here to MA, and the impetus for the Shrove Tuesday dinner in our Parish came from a couple, the husband of which was a member of the local Episcopal Parish, and heard about it from one of his fellow parishoners.