In some places in the world, Shrove Tuesday is also called pancake day because this is the day when people would use up all the fattening ingredients in their homes and those available fattening ingredients were eggs and milk, perfect ingredients to make pancakes when mixed with flour. This tradition is still observed in UK where pancake racing and pancake competitions are held.
While in other countries, Shrove Tuesday is called Mardi Gras which means Fat Tuesday. Fat Tuesday in Brazil is equivalent to festival with people marching, singing and dancing wearing their bright costumes on the streets.
Filipinos have adopted some of these customs that still continue until today but the important activity that we do during Shrove Tuesday is the burning of palms that were blessed and used in our own homes as protections from evil from the past year.
A live mass was held yesterday as part of the celebration of Shrove Tuesday. It was presided by Rev. Fr. Bembol Hiteroza, who, gave three explanations about this celebration.
1. First is we need to live a better life and submit ourselves to God. This is the perfect time to reassess our lives in preparation for 40 days of waiting before the coming of Christ.
2. Fr. Bembol also mentioned the only three things that God wants us to do during this time:
Praying – Find a quiet time, or if you have to, go to a place without worldly distractions where you can communicate with God. Observe silence and spend more time with him.
Fasting- Fasting is not limited to food. Fasting includes fasting of the eyes, ears and mouth. It means sacrificing all the wants of our bodies for forty days. Fr. Bembol defined fasting as the simplification of material references. You may also do some sacrifice by not drinking your favorite milk tea or coffee or munching your favorite chocolate within the period of lent.
Alms giving – This is simply defined as doing charity for the less privileged. This may also be done by sharing the things or food that you are willing to sacrifice for fasting.
3. Last but most importantly, live like a child. We have to trust our God. Living like a child means living a simple life and finding happiness in simple things. Children know what they like and what they don’t and they are always vocal about these things. Children are distinct for having their sense of wonder, they are filled with curiosity, asking every little detail that they observe. Same with us, we should ask God on his plans for us and why did he bring us to the situation we are living right now. “Nawa’y lagi tayong maging masaya at masigla katulad ng mga bata.” Fr. Bembol said as he ended his homily.
