Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras.  All names for this day, the day before Ash Wednesday, the day before Lent begins.

A day to eat all the eggs and butter and oil (pancakes! king cake!), to make one's confession (shriving!), to party big before the season of penitence and fasting begins.

And a day to burn last year's palms from Palm Sunday, to make the ashes for tomorrow.

I've participated in a couple of palm burning/ash producing events.  They are often more about the symbolism than about producing ashes.  After all, one can procure ashes from a number of church suppliers without having to do all that pounding and straining any more.  But I like symbolic acts, don't you?