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Featured Term (selected at random):SHROVETIDEThe few days before Ash Wednesday, particularly the day before, Shrove Tuesday. It is associated with confessing one's sins and has in many places become a time for holding carnivals, as the last time for festivity before the Lenten season of penance. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Catholic Roots of Mardi Gras   Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home.What is less known about Mardi Gras is its relation to the Christmas season, through the ordinary-time interlude known in many Catholic cultures as Carnival. (Ordinary time, in the...

A Brief History of Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) For centuries, the English have celebratd Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent, with merriment and antics and, especially, great quantities of pancakes. In fact, the fried flat cakes became so important to the holiday that is has also been called Pancake Day, or Pancake Tuesday.Long ago, strict Christian Lenten rules prohibited the eating of all dairy products, so keen housewives made pancakes to use up their supplies of eggs, milk, butter and other fats. They could be easily made and cooked in a skillet or on a griddle. Families ate stacks...

[Illustration, Book of Gospels - Midwest Theological Forum] Part I - Pre-Lenten DaysPre-Lenten season Suggestions for family activities on Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)The penitential season of Lent is the period of forty week-days beginning on Ash Wednesday. It is a season of the Church year that commemorates the forty days Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness before He began His public ministry of preaching for repentance. Six Sundays are within the season; the last, Passion Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week. Holy Thursday begins the Triduum (three days) before Easter day, which includes Good Friday and Holy...

Shrove Tuesday is the term used in United Kingdom,, Ireland, and Australia to refer to the day after Collop Monday and before Ash Wednesday (the liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday). In these countries, this day is also known as Pancake Day, because it is customary to eat pancakes on this day. The reason that pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent is that it was the start of the traditional 40 days of Lent liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs were eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, sugar and flour are disposed...

Alright, who's going out tonight? Where are you going? What will you be doing? Does your mother know? Remember, Allahtm hates costumes like this, so Bedazzle your bikini, celebrate Catholicism, and flip the bird in a generally eastward direction! According to internet sources:In the Christian calendar, Shrove Tuesday is the English name for the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which in turn marks the beginning of Lent. In many solidly Roman Catholic countries in Europe and the Americas, this is the last day of Carnival. In some historically Francophone places it is Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday; the most...

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last hurrah before the Catholic season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. It also has links to the Christmas season through the period known as Carnival.Mardi Gras' Catholic Roots Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French...