Shrovetide

Shrovetide, 'shriving-time,' 'absolution-time,' the name given to the days immediately preceding Ash-Wednesday, which, as indeed the whole period after Septuagesima Sunday appears to have been, were anciently days of preparation for the penitential time of Lent. In the modern discipline of the Roman Catholic Church a trace of this is still preserved, as in many countries the time of the confession, which precedes the paschal or Easter communion, commences from Shrovetide. These days were sometimes called Fasting-tide, Fastmass, Fasten-e'en, or Fastern's-e'en, names still retained in some parts of Great Britain, as Fastnacht is the regular German name. The name of Shrovetide was retained in England after the Reformation, although the practice of shriving was abandoned. The duty of confession having been fulfilled, the faithful, upon the eve of entering upon the Lent, were indulged with permission to give themselves up to amusements and to festive celebrations, of which the counterpart is still seen in the continental carnival. In England the pastimes of football, cock-fighting and throwing at cocks, bull-baiting, &c. were long recognised usages of Shrovetide; and the festive banquets of the day are still represented by the pancakes and fritters from which Pancake Tuesday took its name, and by the 'collops' which gave its title to Collop Monday. Shrovetide cakes and ale, the last surviving relic of Shrove Tuesday celebrations, were discontinued by Brasenose College in 1887. The Mardi Gras of the French, with its merry-makings, is Shrove Tuesday. It is a popular festival at New Orleans.