Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner next week
Ted Escobar/The Sun Tribune - From left, Sharon Bray, Donna Adams, Anna Short, Jim Nau and Vicki Nau are geared up and fired up for Shrove Tuesday.
OTHELLO — Vicki and Jim Nau, Anna Short, Donna Adams and Sharon Bray are ready to flip pancakes for you at Pilgrim Lutheran’s Annual Community Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner.
That will be next Tuesday, Feb. 28 from 5-7 p.m. The menu will include pancakes, sausages, applesauce, coffee and juice. All proceeds from the dinner go to support Hospice and the Othello Food Bank.
Shrove Tuesday is the last day for feasting before the start of Lent in some Christian traditions, including Lutheran. It was the day before Ash Wednesday, when people would “shrive” or confess their sins to the priest.
Shrove Tuesday comes from the Middle Ages. As in contemporary times, food items like meats, fats, eggs, milk, and fish were regarded as restricted during Lent.
To keep such foods from being wasted, families would have big feasts on Shrove Tuesday in order to consume those items. That was to avoid spoilage of those foods during the next 40 days.
The English tradition of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday came about as a way to use as much milk, fats, and eggs as possible before Ash Wednesday began. In France, the consumption of all fats and fatty foods on this day coined the name “Fat Tuesday” or Mardi Gras.
According to Pilgrim’s Kristi Spohr, the Methodist Church celebrated Shrove Tuesday until 15-20 years ago. Pilgrim picked up the tradition and brought it forward.
Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is celebrated in New Orleans and other parts of the world as the last day for feasting and partying before Lent. Whether you call it Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday, you are invited to participate in this traditional feast of pancakes and sausages.