Whence cometh the word "shrove"? Glad you asked. It is derived from "shrive," meaning to confess one's sins and be free of guilt.
So shrive, then jive. And enjoy your pancakes. Particularly nice with orange and Grand Marnier butter.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Shrive, then jive
This is Shrove Tuesday, the final day of Shrovetide, described in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable as "the three days before the opening of Lent, when people went to confession and afterwards indulged in all sorts of sports and merry-making." At one time it was the great Derby Day of cockfighting in England. Keep an eye on your roosters.
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I'll drink to that - up till Tuesday midnight!
ReplyDeleteThe Shrovetide Festival scene that opens Igor Stravinsky's ballet "Petrouchka" portrays the Russian Orthodox counterpart of the western pre-Lenten carnival. That festival ends not on a Tuesday but a Sunday.
Russian and other eastern Orthodox communions use the Julian calendar, which falls one day behind the Gregorian calendar every 128 years.
Over the years they add up.