A flipping time
  or

Shrove Tuesday

Aims

This Y7-Y13 assembly celebrates Shrove Tuesday. It aims to:
 

• explain the history and purpose of Shrove Tuesday
   
• put it in its context within the Christian calendar
   
• explain the origin and symbolism of some of the associated customs
   
• consider the purpose of Lent, and fasting generally

Introduction

Today is Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as pancake day, or as one manufacturer of lemon juice would have us call it, Jif Lemon day, though this doesn't seem to have caught on! It is part of the traditional Christian calendar, so what has it got to do with pancakes? This assembly will explore the meaning behind Shrove Tuesday, as well as explaining the custom of pancake eating that has grown up around it. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the beginning of Lent, which starts tomorrow Ash Wednesday. We will find out what that is about too.

Main presentation

"Lent is the 40 day period that builds up to Easter, which remembers the death and resurrection of Jesus. The 40 day period is a time of reflection and sacrifice for Christians, during which they especially recall the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness.

During this time he was tempted by the Devil.

(There is a animated clip that lasts approximately 3 minutes of Jesus temptation in the desert by the Devil in the film the Miracle Maker, which all RE departments should have!)

Alternatively, or additionally, you could get a pupil to read the corresponding Bible passage. If you were doing both, do the Bible reading first. It is found in Matthew 4.1-11.)

In order to help Christians identify with Jesus difficulties in the desert, they often give something up for the period of Lent, remembering his long fast. Non-Christians sometimes take on this custom too, as a way of giving up something they don't think is good for them, or as an exercise in self-discipline.

Traditionally, the things that the Church encouraged people to give up were meat and fish, fats, eggs and milky foods. Because of this it became customary for people to use up their fats and eggs before Lent started by making pancakes. There are recipes for Shrove Tuesday pancakes going back to a 1439 cookbook. The tradition of tossing pancakes is an old one too.

'And every man and maide doe take their turne, and tosse their Pancakes up for feare they burne.' (1619, Pasquils Palin)

Here are some frivolous facts: Ralf Laue from Leipzig broke the world record for pancake tossing by tossing one 416 times in 2 minutes, and Mike Cuzzacrea ran a marathon while continually tossing a pancake for no less than 3 hours, 2 minutes and 27 seconds. The world's biggest pancake was cooked in Rochdale in 1994; it was an amazing 15 metres in diameter, weighed three tonnes and had an estimated two million calories.

A tradition of pancake races has also grown up, supposedly dating back to 1445, when a woman who was cooking her pancakes lost track of time. She heard the church bells calling people to a service, and ran out of the house still holding her pan and flipping the pancake!

Mardi Gras festivals around the world are also associated with Shrove Tuesday. Mardi Gras literally means fat Tuesday. The famous Mardi Gras festivals of Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans thus stem from the same preparation for Lent, and getting rid of the forbidden foods.

Shrove Tuesday is not just about using up food though. It has a special significance of its own. Catholics traditionally go to confession on this day, to admit their sins to the priest and be absolved (forgiven) for the things they have done wrong. This process of confession and absolution used to called shriving hence Shrove Tuesday. Again this is an old tradition. Over 1000 years ago, a monk wrote in the Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical Institutes:

'In the week before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him.'

This was done in order to start Lent with a pure soul. Confessing the bad things you have done has been, and still is, a crucial part of Christianity. In Catholicism this is done by priests, who forgive you on behalf of God, whom they represent. In Protestant churches, you confess directly to God through prayer. Either way, you receive forgiveness and you are freed from a guilty conscience. Many non-religious people would agree that to confess the things you feel guilty about to someone helps you to feel less guilty. Its not always healthy to bottle things up. Get it off your chest they might say."

Summary

So then: Shrove Tuesday is about saying sorry for the bad things you have done. It is about wiping the slate clean before a period of self-sacrifice and reflection for Christians. It is the last celebration before what is a serious period of contemplation, before the next big celebration at Easter time. The tradition of giving Easter eggs comes from the fact that people would have given them up for so long, and now they are allowed them again. I hope you will view your pancakes in a more enlightened way at dinner tonight!
 

Additional notes

Make sure your assembly uses suitable language and ideas for your audience, and that the extra resources you decide to include are suitable for the age group who will experience it. Clearly it should be held on Shrove Tuesday!

Extension/shortening tip

To lengthen
You could choose a Lent related hymn to extend the assembly.

To shorten
Dropping the video clip, or the frivolous facts, would help shorten it.
 

Recommended resources

Miracle Maker video, Bible.