The evening times., 1900-02-27
THE MERRY sERovETIDE.
Festivities That Immediately Pre-
cedc the Prnitential SeR~on-
From the Philadelphia Record
,t,-~.--,+f4~ t.e.e--r, >-rr7. .doz f..- M ant

cede the PrnitentiaI seR~On-
From the Philadelphia Record
ShrOvetide began SaJu4d day Ll-nt. and
ends the morning OF Ash Wednesday. FEB
ruary. %. Shrovetide is the termination Of
the pre-Lenten season. the two weeks and
a half that Immediately precede Lent be-
ginning with Septuagesim2 sunday This
forms a transition period between the
joyful Christmastide and Epiphany. and
the penitential season CT Lent.
The Sunday OF ShrOvetide is named
Cuinduagesima. Latin Gftieth. because in
round numbers il is fifty days before
Easter Gregory the Great uses this name
for the Sunday preceding Ash Wednes-
day. 50 II must be Of very ancient date.
but its celebration as a preparation for
Lent is entirely practice Of the Western
church. Mcnd1T OF Shr0vetide is given
the name Of CoIlop Monday. because. OF
old as iJ was the last day before Lent,
when meat might be eaten. the meat was
cut into stczss or coliops ana sa!ted down.
90 be eaten when Lent was over
According 20 Poiydore Virgil IT. sprang
from the feasts Of Bacchus, which were
formerly celebrated IN Rome at the same
period Il rs possible ther. that Collop
Monday may be OF heathsE origin. Pos
sibly il is for this reason the Etou boys
choose CoIop Monday 10 write verses TO
Bacchus. On this day, which at Eton Is
called Becchus day. verses are written and
put up but their subjects are not By any
means confined 10 the god OF wine
The people Of Cornwall call COllOp Mon
day Hall Monday. and the bOys 20 about
az dusk with clubs. batteriug al each d0oI
and then fleeing IN haste for fear Of cctec-
ton. 4 prank similar 20 that Of CUR on n
boys pulling doorbolls HalloTe EN- night
[ This is called Nickauan night with them
Shrove Tuesday. the day preceding Ash
"Wednesday. the first day of Lent, is So
I called because Il was the day on which
! the people made shriit or confession in
/ preparation Tor Lent. II Is Known in Scot
/ land as Fasten's Fen. while the French
call il Mardi Gras. Before the Reformation
/ IL was the frst and great duty ot everyone
! on this day to apply early in she morning
{ TO the priest for ahsoIution ia the con-
/ fessionai For the rest Ct the day they
/ were allowed to indulge in all sorts OF
| merrymaking. which at times reached into
4 uubounded license
| Shrcve Tuesday has been called Pancake
/ Tuesday from time immemOrial, and The
| custom Of eating pancakes on that day Is
/ a very ancient one. One seemingly very
/ good reason for this practice is that as
I meat was strictly tabOOed during Lent al
/ the drippiuss and fat we-e used or thi.
I preparatory day in making pancakes II
/ order that none should be left. al about
l the house were called together 90 eat tht
! pancakes by bell that was naturally
! called the pancake bell Before The pan
| cakes were eaten in oldeu times there va;
! a great deal of rivalry among the pancake
| revelsrs to see who could most c'everiy
toss them in the pan. This tossing oi pan
I cakes on Shroye Tuesday, with some OF as
/ ancient Accomplishments. stiH survives II
/ q few parts OF Cheshire and LaEc1sh hire
Nardi Gras is celebrated with grea
/ reveI and merry-making in Latin countries
I and some few in our OWN cities amons IA
( Latin races The sayeties continue iron
: a week down to the single DAY. Away
: concluding with Shrove Tuesday. Con
f5td throwing-the word being from N
Italian. meaning confectionery-forms III
p-ettiezt and most popular ot the Roma
ard Partisan carnival practices. although
is said this practice will this year b
omitted in Paris. After the procession ha
passed. these pretty paper triiles form tn
missiles with which the merry makers pei
each other. The more people are show
( cred with them the more attention the
are considered to have received, as contet'
showers are tribute 10 beauty and popu
l larity-