Shrove Tuesday

Here are a few suggestions to help you celebrate the final day before Lent.

• Today is Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras! Try some of the traditional recipes linked here. When eggs were among the foods that were forbidden by the Church during Lent, people would use them up on Fat Tuesday by mixing up large quantities of pancakes or doughnuts (also known as fastnachts).
• Read Maria von Trapp's explanation of the traditions associated with Carnival, or Fat Tuesday here.
• Sing this American favorite, Turkey in the Straw, with your children as part of your Mardi Gras celebrations.
• Discuss Jesus' Gospel teaching for today, He who would be first must be last, with your children and ask them how they can put others in the family before themselves. Keep it simple and practical — setting the table, washing the dishes, folding laundry, watching the littler ones, doing homework right away.
• What does it mean to become a child spiritually, that we may enter Heaven and be received by Christ Himself? We can learn much from St. Therese of the Child Jesus about spiritual childhood. Begin reading her Story of a Soul.
• Read Fr. William Saunder's article, Shrove Tuesday and Shrovetide, from the Catholic Culture Library.