Tuesday 25 February 2020

The First Week of Lent + Thankyou

 First of all thank you to everyone for comments yesterday. As everyone said - they grow so quickly so getting photos at this age when we are all together is a good idea.
No, we didn't have snow just another lot of rain lasting half the night and all morning - it has to stop soon - Right?
(Thankfully Not as much as other parts of the country when people are still getting their homes ruined again and again, I can't imagine the distress it causes.)

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We know about Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday but according to my little almanac book each day of this week has a name..................

Collop Monday
This was the last day for eating meat. Any fresh meat still available would be sliced and salted to preserve it until after Lent. = A Collop - a Scandinavian word, means a slice of meat.

Shrove Tuesday
The last day before Lent when it was customary to make confession. In the past it was a day for merrymaking and fun and feasting on the last of the eggs and butter before Lent fasting

Pancake Tuesday is a very happy day,
If we don't have a holiday we'll all run away,
Where shall we run,up High Lane,
And here comes the teacher with a great big cane.

(a children's rhyme from the past taken from the Cattern Cakes and Lace book)

Lacemakers had to stop using candles on this day, no matter the date or the weather conditions.

Ash Wednesday
The first of the 40 days of  abstinence. The word Lent comes from Anglo-Saxon 'lengentide' which means spring or lengthening of the days. Originally only 1 meal a day was eaten during Lent.


Fritter Thursday
Maybe because of the dough fritters that were often eaten in meatless Lent or perhaps using the last of the stored apples dipped in batter?


Kissing Friday
Once this was the day when boys had the right to kiss girls without being told off !


Who Knew!


Back Tomorrow
Sue

19 comments:

  1. Nothing here given up for Lent, I must confess! Those poor Lacemakers - presumably unable to work without candles unless it was dry (and warm enough!) to sit outside.

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  2. We used to all chant
    'Pancake Day
    Pancake Day
    If you don't give us a holiday
    We'll all run away'
    . . . and then we had a half day holiday. Perhaps it was because we were a church school, I don't know. It was a long time ago now.
    xx


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  3. My daughter reminded me yesterday about Pancake day today, her husband makes them for them. I very often have pancakes for breakfast a quick meal. (M and S sell a nice one). The sun is out this morning so I am going shopping it's market day and I Ave not been for a few weeks and I gave lots of little things to get. Enjoy your pancakes everyone.
    Hazel c uk

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  4. Your photos from yesterday are lovely. Facinating facts about the first week of Lent, we will be making pancakes later today:)

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  5. Fascinating, I obviously knew about Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday but no that all the other days had 'things' too.

    Pancakes are easy for me these days, simply Gram flour and either water or almond milk … with neither butter nor eggs included perhaps I wouldn't have had to give anything up for Lent years ago :-)

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  6. You'd better keep away from boys on Friday.

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  7. I like the bit about the lace makers having to stop using candles. Just trying to do this under candle light must have been so eye straining.
    Briony
    x

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  8. I mentioned to a shop assistant this morning that we have a Pancake Party tonight. She asked me why we have pancakes, and which charity started the tradition! She genuinely had no idea about Lent/pancakes etc. wasAnd she wasn't a teenager either, but an Englishwoman about my age.

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  9. We have pancake day here in Australia also and I don't think the younger people here know why. It is interesting that lent in the olden days was very like Ramadan is for people of Muslim faith. It would have made time for herds and flocks to build up at the start of spring.

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  10. My kids go to a Catholic school which still follow some of the older religious traditions. They sold pancakes at recess yesterday, today they have a mass for ash Wednesday and on Fridays through lent, the school canteen doesn't sell any meat products.

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  11. I was reading about this myself.
    We had a couple of pancakes each after our egg salad tea, very nice they were too. I don't know why I don't think to make them more often.

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  12. Your little almanac is a treasure. Who knew about those other days, especially a day called Kissing Friday!!

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  13. This is why I enjoy reading your blog so much, Sue, I always learn something new! I didn't know about Collop Monday or kissing Friday either and I'm 70 years old ;)

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  14. Strangely at my junior school we had to take in a piece of ash on ash Wednesday or the other children would stamp on your shoes...can you just imagine that happening today?! x

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