(6th February 2008)

This is a good day for clearing out the larder of suspect things that can spread infestation, mould and decay. We can wipe the shelves and sweep away the cobwebs so that precious rations may be carefully preserved. We can assess our households, as well as our souls, and plan our meals as well as our lenten penitence.

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday. By Shrove Tuesday, Christians ought to have been 'shriven' by their Priest in preparation for Lent. That is, having attended Confession, been provided with a penance. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence for Chrisitians (obligatory for Catholics). If we attend Church (not obligatory for Catholics but advisable), we are all blessed with ashes, to remind us of our mortality.

Pancakes help to teach us about ‘the last days’. They are traditionally eaten to use up all dairy produce before Lent, so that nothing is wasted. Pancakes have a versatile recipe which can be adapted to all quantities and sorts of stocks left over, sweet and savoury. Pancakes are fun. They are an opportunity to brush up on old skills, including teaching loved ones how to laugh and be hearty about our failings.

Lent is a naturally lean season. It falls between Winter and the beginning of Spring. Food stocks are running down but new harvests have not yet arrived. Our harshest weather may also come at this time. We can make the little that is available go that bit further if we live and eat more frugally, sharing what we have with those less fortunate than ourselves. Increased threats to our survival remind us of our mortality. We make the most of what might be a last opportunity to put our household in order, and make peace with our neighbour, and our God.

Lent is a period of 40 days, excluding Sundays, (Sundays are always Easter days). Lent culminates in the “Triduum” (which means “three days”) of Holy Week. These are Holy (or Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Easter Sunday is the start of a new season, both for the Church’s Liturgy and our planet. It is calculated on a different day of the month each year to fall on the Sunday following the full moon of the vernal equinox. Christians identify these trying 6 weeks with the time of Christ’s testing in the wilderness, before he began his ministry of telling everyone the good news.

Vegan Christians may find Lent a joyful and easy season. Ranks of abstainers are temporarily swelled. Closed hearts begin to break open, disinterested minds begin to reason through our concerns. Seeds are sown which will slowly stir and emerge, and we rejoice to see them grow. We might stretch ourselves to help wild animals survive their hungry season. Our lands are increasingly developed and closed to other creatures’ God-given needs.

Vegans might like to give up baking with 'raising-agents' on weekdays during the Lent Season, until Holy Week. This is more in keeping with the Jewish tradition, in remembrance of the Jewish identity of Our Lord. Not only yeast, but every raising agent is supposed to be removed from Jewish homes for Passover. Raising agents are actually toxic and not nutritional, although in small quantities our bodies can deal with them. Their use is to aerate, and to improve the texture, volume and appearance of baked foods. It is wise to use as little as possible, in right proportion. At this time when our bodies are being asked to work harder on less food, giving up leaven can ease the burden.

Having no dairy products in our food anyway, Vegan Christians may like to economise on fuel-use and bake bread alongside pancakes on Shrove Tuesday in readiness for Ash Wednesday’s fast. The simplicity of a day eating only bread and water leaves one refreshingly free to go about more gentle business. Many people in the world would still consider this simple meal to be a feast. It is a holy meal, which all creatures may like to enjoy a portion of.