A day to be shriven

               Today is Shrove Tuesday on the Christian calendar.  It is the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent that marks 40 days, excluding Sundays, prior to Easter when the faithful enter into a time of self reflection, penitence, and austerity.  When a person is “shriven” they have confessed their sins and received the assurance of God’s forgiveness.  This practice is traditionally associated with the day before Lent begins.         
          The observance of Shrove Tuesday is enacted throughout the world with a variety of time honored traditions, most notably Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) and Carnival (farewell to meat).  Both observances are historically rooted in the Lenten practice of denial of worldly pleasures but has become a time of frivolity and often debauchery.
          Some other practices associated with Shrove Tuesday focus on using up certain pantry and kitchen items that are identified with excesses, like sugar, flour, butter, and fat.  So many foods made from those ingredients are prepared on the day prior to Lent’s onset.
          In England Shrove Tuesday is also called “Pancake Tuesday.”  To use up the forbidden staples before Ash Wednesday pancakes are made and eaten.  Many towns hold a Pancake Day race following a longstanding tradition.  According to legend, when one woman was in the kitchen cooking up the pancakes for her family she lost track of time.  So when the shriven church bells rang calling the faithful to confession, she ran to the church  with her apron still on, frying pan in her hand, flipping the last pancake.  This observance is still conducted throughout the nation and has been held in Olney every year since 1445.
          There are quite a few variations of Shrove Tuesday around the globe.  In the Netherlands it is called Vastenavond (Fasting Eve) and is a time of feasting and merrymaking.  In Finns know the day as Laskiaispaiva and a typical meal of pea soup and blinis, a rich kind of pancake, are served with caviar and smetana, a sour milk.  It is Vastla Paev in Estonia and a traditional soup of pigs’ feet boiled with dried peas or lima beans is served.
          In the Pennsylvania German tradition Fastnachts are fried up in hot oil and enjoyed with a morning cup of coffee.  They are yeast raised potato flour doughnuts, minus the hole in the center.  The term is from the German for “fasting night.”  In certain sections of Maryland they are called “kinklings” and are very similar to fastnachts.  In Polish communities throughout the US Paczki Day is observed and a flattened sphere shaped deep fried jelly doughnut is eaten.  And in Hamtramck, a suburb near Detroit there is even a Paczki Day Parade.
          So now a question for you to ponder.  “Why do the dates for Easter and Ash Wednesday change annually and how are those dates determined?