Shrovetide

Shrovetide is the three-day period before the beginning of Lent, which is the season of fasting and penitence that precedes Easter.

Shrovetide consists of Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday and is the most well-known of the days of Shrovetide due to the tradition of eating pancakes on that day. Shrove Tuesday is sometimes called Pancake Day for this reason.

Shrovetide starts 49 days before Easter Sunday. (Lent is often considered a period of 40 days, but it actually consists of 40 weekdays.) Since Easter Sunday moves every year, the start of Shrovetide on Shrove Sunday can fall between February 1 and March 7.

In 2024, Shrovetide begins on February 11. In 2025, Shrovetide will begin on March 2.

The first records of the term Shrovetide come from around 1400. Shrove is the past tense of the verb shrive, which means “confess one’s sins, such as to a priest” (it can also mean “to hear confession”). The word tide refers to a specific period or time or season. It is used in the same way in other words that refer to seasons or periods around holidays, such as Christmastide and Eastertide.

Shrovetide was once a time that many Christians devoted to confessing their sins before the beginning of Lent. But Lent itself is a time of fasting and abstaining, and Shrovetide (and especially Shrove Tuesday) eventually became, for many, a time of indulging before the Lenten fast begins.

Traditionally, fasting for Lent has involved giving up foods like eggs and fats (such as butter). Shrove Tuesday is the last day to use up such foods so they don’t go to waste during Lent, and pancakes are one of the easiest (and most delicious) ways to use these ingredients. That’s why Shrove Tuesday is often called Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday.

What are some terms that often get used in discussing Shrovetide?

• Shrove Tuesday
• Shrove Monday
• Shrove Sunday
• Pancake Day
• Mardi Gras
• Ash Wednesday
• Lent
• Easter
• fast

Shrovetide is associated with indulging before Lent and the tradition of eating pancakes, especially on Shrove Tuesday.

Pancakes still for tea. Home to discover sure signs of Shrovetide: a battered copy of Delia and a vat of lemon juice on the kitchen top.

— Wealands Bell (@WealandsBell) February 25, 2020

Today is the first day of Shrovetide, traditionally a time of both spiritual preparation and merrymaking before the beginning of Lent. An Anglo-Saxon sermon for Quinquagesima, the Sunday next before Lent: 'Now a pure and holy time draws near' https://t.co/5XABjif6Pl pic.twitter.com/kLrAnKHjMZ

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) March 3, 2019

Shrove Tuesday means one thing in Derbyshire: it’s Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football! 🎉 Here’s EVERYTHING you need to know about this fascinating game which divides the town and has been played for centuries: https://t.co/zYTvuVw79Z ⚽️ #ShrovetideFootball #PancakeDay pic.twitter.com/Q04WeKKcLN

— Visit Peak District & Derbyshire (@vpdd) March 5, 2019

True or False?

Shrovetide always begins on the same date.