This Sunday is the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, the final Sunday before the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That means that this Tuesday is the final day before Lent’s traditional fasts begin, a day known to some as Shrove Tuesday and to others as Mardi Gras, “Fat Tuesday.” In keeping with the spirit of the season, I thought I’d share four Shrove Tuesday Fun Facts before returning to Very Serious Spiritual Writing for the season of Lent.

So here they are:

1. “Fat Tuesday” (Mardi Gras) in French gets its name from the pre-Lent tradition of clearing the house of foods not traditionally eaten during Lent, including not only meat but all animal products. And what better way to use up all your meat, eggs, milk, and butter before Lent than a feast of pancakes and bacon?
2. “Shrove Tuesday,” on the other hand, comes from the old term “shrive,” which meant to “make a confession” or “administer penance.” So Shrove Tuesday is the day before Shrovetide, the three days before during which people often made their confessions before the penitential season of Lent began.
3. The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are traditionally mixed with a small amount of holy oil, which is oil mixed with incense and blessed by our bishops on the Tuesday in Holy Week. Ashes make sense: they’re a traditional sign of mourning, lamentation, and repentance; you can read stories of the Bible of people sitting on the ground and covering their heads in ashes. But the oil is more surprising. Like everything else in the church, it works on two levels. On the one hand, it has a symbolic purpose: the oil used on Ash Wednesday is the same oil used at our baptisms, the day on which we were united with Jesus, the Christ, which means “the Anointed One.” On a day in which we remember our sinfulness, our imperfection, and our mortality, the oil reminds us of our God’s choice to love us and redeem us and bring us eventually to immortality, despite it all. On the other hand, it’s very practical: the oil helps the ashes stick to your head! (Plus, it smells kind of nice.)
4. The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are a genuine historical mystery. Since 1872 in New Orleans, they’ve been purple, green, and gold. Officially, they are symbolic: purple stands for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. But this was first claimed only in 1892, twenty years after their debut. Others claim they stem from a sports rivalry (purple and gold for LSU, and green for Tulane), or perhaps that the school colors came from the Mardi Gras colors instead. If you’re used to spending your time around the church, though, the origin of the colors may seem less mysterious: While I can’t prove it, it seems to me that the colors may have a more liturgical origin: green for Epiphany, purple for Lent, and gold for, well, Easter, Christmas, funerals, weddings, any feast day, random golden objects scattered around most churches… Since Mardi Gras is a church holiday, after all, it seems to me to be a more likely source!

Well, that’s about exhausted my stores of trivia for today. I hope you can join us for our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper on Tuesday at 6pm or our Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday at 7pm.