Editing Shrove Tuesday (section)

==History==
The tradition of marking the start of Lent has been documented for centuries. [[Ælfric of Eynsham]]'s "Ecclesiastical Institutes" from around 1000 AD states: "In the week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him as he then may hear by his deeds what he is to do [in the way of penance]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13763a.htm|title=Shrovetide|publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia|access-date=1 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914062042/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13763a.htm|archive-date=14 September 2015}}</ref> By the time of the late [[Middle Ages]], the celebration of Shrovetide lasted until the start of Lent.<ref name=Self>{{cite book|title=One Hundred Readings for Assembly|first=David|last=Self|page=24|publisher=Heinemann|year=1993|isbn=978-0-435-80041-3}}</ref> 

During the liturgical season of Lent, believers have historically abstained from rich foods such as meat, eggs, lacticinia (dairy products), and alcohol—a practice that continues in [[Eastern Christianity]] (in denominations such as the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]]) and among [[Western Christianity|Western Christian]] congregations practicing the [[Daniel Fast]].<ref name="Samaan2024">{{cite web |last1=Samaan |first1=Moses |title=The Meaning of the Great Lent |url=https://www.lacopts.org/story/the-meaning-of-the-great-lent/ |publisher=[[Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles, Southern California, and Hawaii]] |access-date=10 March 2024 |date=9 April 2009 |quote=The Church teaches us to fast until sunset. Fish is not allowed during this period. Also married couples should refrain from physical relations to give themselves time for fasting and prayer (1 Cor. 7: 5). We would like to emphasize the importance of the period of strict abstention during fasting. It is refraining from eating and drinking for a period of time, followed by eating vegetarian food. ... True fasting must be accompanied by abstention from food and drink until sunset as designated by the Church.}}</ref><ref name="RNS2013">{{cite news |title=Lent: Daniel Fast Gains Popularity |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/lent-daniel-fast-gains-popularity_n_2640352.html |accessdate=30 December 2018 |work=HuffPost |agency=Religion News Service |date=7 February 2013 |quote=In some cases, entire churches do the Daniel Fast together during Lent. The idea strikes a chord in Methodist traditions, which trace their heritage to John Wesley, a proponent of fasting. Leaders in the African Methodist Episcopal Church have urged churchgoers to do the Daniel Fast together, and congregations from Washington to Pennsylvania and Maryland have joined in.}}</ref><ref name="Hinton2016">{{cite web |last1=Hinton |first1=Carla |title=The Fast and the Faithful: Catholic parish in Oklahoma takes up Lenten discipline based on biblical Daniel's diet |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/religion/2016/02/20/fast-and-the-faithful-catholic-parish-oklahoma-takes-lenten-discipline-based-biblical-daniels-diet/60691130007/ |publisher=[[The Oklahoman]] |access-date=27 March 2022 |language=English |date=20 February 2016 |quote=Many parishioners at St. Philip Neri are participating in the Daniel fast, a religious diet program based on the fasting experiences of the Old Testament prophet Daniel. ... participating parishioners started the fast Ash Wednesday (Feb. 10) and will continue through Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday.}}</ref> Shrovetide provided Christians with the opportunity to use up these foods prior to the start of the 40-day fasting season of Lent.<ref name="Campbell2005">{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Georgina |title=The Best of Irish Breads and Baking: Traditional, Contemporary and Festive |date=May 2005 |publisher=Georgina Campbell Guides |isbn=978-1-903164-15-0 |page=106 |language=en |quote=Until relatively recently, the Lenten fast was taken so seriously in Ireland that it meant abstaining not only from meat but also eggs and all milk products. The tradition of making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday) came about as a practical way of using up the surplus eggs, milk and butter which would otherwise go to waste. Most Irish families still make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and the tradition of tossing pancakes not only survives but actually thrives, providing voter-friendly photo opportunities for politicians and commercial opportunities for the catering trade. }}</ref><ref name="Butler">{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Alban |title=The Moveable Feasts, Fasts, and Other Annual Observances of the Catholic Church |date=1839 |publisher=James Duffy |location=[[Dublin]] |page=144-146 |language=en|quote=The primitive Christians in Lent broke their fast only after sunset, and then usually only with herbs, roots, and bread. At least all were obliged to abstain not only from flesh meat, but also from fish, and whatever had life; also whatever is derived from flesh, as eggs, milk, cheese, butter, according to the ancient canon. Likewise from wine, which in the primitive ages was no less forbidden on all fasting days than the use of flesh meat itself ... Some mitigations were introduced in part of abstinence in the sixth century ... Fish was in the same age allowed, but not of the dearer and more dainty kinds.}}</ref><ref name="Butler1774">{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Alban |title=The Moveable Feasts, Fasts, and Other Annual Observances of the Catholic Church |date=1774 |publisher=C. Kiernan |page=257 |language=en |quote=It is undoubted, that anciently to drink on fasting days was no less forbid than to eat, only in the refection after sunset.}}</ref> Prior to the 6th century, Lent was normatively observed through the practice of the Black Fast, which enjoins fasting from food and liquids, with the allowance of one [[Christian vegetarianism|vegetarian]] meal after sunset.<ref name="Butler">{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Alban |title=The Moveable Feasts, Fasts, and Other Annual Observances of the Catholic Church |date=1839 |publisher=James Duffy |location=[[Dublin]] |page=144-146 |language=en|quote=The primitive Christians in Lent broke their fast only after sunset, and then usually only with herbs, roots, and bread. At least all were obliged to abstain not only from flesh meat, but also from fish, and whatever had life; also whatever is derived from flesh, as eggs, milk, cheese, butter, according to the ancient canon. Likewise from wine, which in the primitive ages was no less forbidden on all fasting days than the use of flesh meat itself ... Some mitigations were introduced in part of abstinence in the sixth century ... Fish was in the same age allowed, but not of the dearer and more dainty kinds.}}</ref><ref name="Kiernan">{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Alban |title=The Moveable Feasts, Fasts, and Other Annual Observances of the Catholic Church |date=1774 |publisher=C. Kiernan |page=257 |language=en |quote=It is undoubted, that anciently to drink on fasting days was no less forbid than to eat, only in the refection after sunset.}}</ref> The tradition of [[pancake breakfast]]s during Shrovetide, as well as that of pancake races, owes itself to this practice of "using up the surplus eggs, milk and butter" prior to Lent.<ref name="Campbell2005"/><ref name="CollinsMartin2005">{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Tony|last2=Martin|first2=John|last3=Vamplew|first3=Wray|title=Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports|year=2005|publisher=Psychology Press|language=en |isbn=978-0415352246|page=202|quote=The association between pancakes and Shrove Tuesday appears to have its origins in the fact that the pancakes used up food such as butter, eggs and fat that were prohibited during Lent, which begins the following day on Ash Wednesday. ... Pancakes have been eaten on Shrove Tuesday since at least the sixteenth century. In some parishes, it was the custom for the church bell to ring at noon as the signal for people to begin frying their pancakes. }}</ref> As such, it was traditional in many societies to eat pancakes or other foods made with the butter, eggs and fat or lard that would need to be used up before the beginning of Lent. Similar foods are [[Fasnacht (doughnut)|fasnachts]] and [[pączki]].<ref name="CollinsMartin2005"/> The specific custom of British Christians eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday dates to the 16th century.<ref name="CollinsMartin2005">{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Tony|last2=Martin|first2=John|last3=Vamplew|first3=Wray|title=Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports|year=2005|publisher=Psychology Press|language=en |isbn=978-0415352246|page=202|quote=The association between pancakes and Shrove Tuesday appears to have its origins in the fact that the pancakes used up food such as butter, eggs and fat that were prohibited during Lent, which begins the following day on Ash Wednesday. ... Pancakes have been eaten on Shrove Tuesday since at least the sixteenth century. In some parishes, it was the custom for the church bell to ring at noon as the signal for people to begin frying their pancakes. }}</ref> 

Along with its emphasis on feasting, another theme of Shrove Tuesday involves Christians [[Repentance (Christianity)|repenting]] of their sins in preparation to begin the season of Lent in the Christian [[liturgical calendar]].<ref name="Stephens">{{cite book|last=Stephens|first=Valerie|title=Basic Philosophy|year=2016|language=en |isbn=978-1329951747|page=21|quote=Then there is Shrove Tuesday, which is the day observed before Ash Wednesday or Lent. Shrove Tuesday derives from the days when the earliest practising Christians would repent of their sins and be "shriven" or pardoned.}}</ref> In many Christian parish churches, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, a popular Shrove Tuesday tradition is the ringing of the [[church bell]]s (on this day, the toll is known as the Shriving Bell) "to call the faithful to confession before the solemn season of Lent" and for people to "begin frying their pancakes".<ref name="Cocks1897">{{cite book|last=Cocks|first=Alfred Heneage|title=The church bells of Buckinghamshire: their inscriptions, founders, and uses, and traditions; &c|year=1897|publisher=Jarrold & sons|language=en |page=276}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Pulleyn |first=William |title=The Etymological Compendium, Or Portfolio of Origins and Inventions |year=1828|publisher=[[Richard Griffin and Company]]|language=en |page=192}}</ref>