Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is a merry carnival. It is celebrated on Tuesday, the eve of Ash Wednesday, to mark the winter’s end. The traditional figures in the carnival are the lean Kanapinis, the fatty Lašininis, a Jew offering his goods, a Gypsy looking for something to pilfer, and a great number of other funny, caricature masks. The old maid Morė – a female symbol of the clash between winter and spring. In one hand she usually holds a flail and iin the other a broom. Other figures of the carnival include animals – a horse, a goat, a stork, the devil, death. All of them take part in a simple theatrical. Masks are made of wood as terrible as possible. This is a day of universal relaxation and entertainment. Shrove Tuesday celebrations are full of humour, jokes, superstitions and fortune telling.

People do not do any hard work on Shrove Tuesday. They go on swings merry –go rounds, visit friends, eenjoy sledging down the slopes while others try to pour water on them.

Shrove Tuesday is a pancake day, for the pancake is a symbol of the sun. But this is also a day for universal gluttony. People glut themselves oon the last rich meat dishes, for example, pork stewed with peas, before the long Lent fasting period.

In Britain Pancake Day takes place in February. It started as a celebration to use up all the eggs in the kitchen before Lent. All over Britain people make pancakes and they eat them with sugar and lemon juice. People also have pancakes race. Only women and girls can take part. The race started in the 15th century. The story is that on Shrove Tuesday 1445, a woman wanted pancakes for her breakfast. She was in her kitchen when suddenly she heard the church bells. She ran outside to go to church – in her apron and with her frying pan in her hhand. Now there are pancake races all over Britain.