Churches Observe Shrove Tuesday With Pancakes And Fun

By Shannon Hicks

The day before the beginning of Lent is known as Shrove Tuesday. To shrive someone, in old-fashioned English (he shrives, he shrove, he has shriven or he shrives, he shrived, he has shrived), is to hear his acknowledgement of his sins, to assure him of God’s forgiveness, and to give him appropriate spiritual advice.

The term survives today in ordinary usage in the expression “short shrift.” To give someone short shrift is to pay very little attention to his excuses or problems. The longer expression is, “to give him short shrift and a long rope,” which formerly meant to hang a criminal with a minimum of delay.

On Shrove Tuesday, many Christians make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God’s help in dealing with. Often they consult on these matters with a spiritual counselor, or receive shrift.

Shrove Tuesday is the final day before Ash Wednesday, the 40-day period of fasting that leads to Easter. The season — Lent — is the holiest season of the year for Christians.

Pancake suppers have become tradition for Shrove Tuesday because pancakes have always been a good way of using up perishable foods before Lent. During Lent, traditional Christians ate only simple foods.

At least two churches in Newtown hosted pancake suppers on Tuesday night.

In Sandy Hook, the parishioners of St John’s Episcopal Church celebrated their 50th Annual Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper. Church members of all ages worked in the kitchen, greeted diners and collected their admission fees at the door, and worked as waitstaff or table cleaners.

The traditional menu of pancakes, corned beef hash, sausage, and applesauce was served in the church’s gathering hall starting promptly at 5 pm.

Sandy Hook residents Ray and Judy Person were the first to be served their dinner on Tuesday. The couple said they have been among the first customers at St John’s pancake suppers for a few years.

“We know it’s going to be a good dinner,” Mrs Person said. “We aren’t members, but we meet a lot of nice people and we like to support the church. We go to the spaghetti dinners regularly at the Methodist church.

“We go where the food is,” he said with a laugh, as Erica Knapp approached with a plate piled with hot pancakes. Erica’s sister Elyse and their cousin Anthony Venezia were among those who were also working as a team to keep the dinner running smoothly.

Around the corner and up the hill from the Episcopal church, Newtown Congregational Church members were also gathering on Tuesday night for a pancake dinner. Unlike St John’s, however, this was the first time in recent memory that the congregational church was hosting such a dinner.

Reverend Lee Moore, who was hosting the event with his wife Carolyn, welcomed at least 100 diners to the church’s Great Room. The Moores were sharing their sourdough starter, a still-living mixture of flour, water and yeast that dates back to the Oregon Wagon Trail of at least a century ago. By keeping the mixture alive though refrigeration, the Moores have been able to continue the life of a starter that was given to them in 1967 by Elizabeth Skinner, the wife of Brad Skinner, who was the conference minister of the now-defunct Inter-Mountain Conference, UCC.

NCC’s dinner offered sourdough pancakes, sausage, and fruit. Diners were also treated to some entertainment, thanks to the introduction toward the end of the evening of pancake races. Children ages 8 and under were invited to race in pairs, with each child holding a pancake on a spatula and needing to flip their pancake just once while running a short race course.

It was hard to tell who was having more fun — the young runners, the adults cheering them on, or Rev Moore, who coordinated the very successful evening.