We always ate pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Mother said it was to use up the eggs for Lent but I'm sure we still had some: our Saturday lunch of egg and chips and possibly boiled eggs for Sunday tea. Eggs were cheap and nourishing so Mother probably felt that it was a good enough reason to make an exception. The whole school went to St Mary's Church (next to Lambeth Palace) on Ash Wednesday for a service in the morning and the afternoon was a half holiday. The cross on the altar was shrouded in a purple cloth and there were no flowers in church.
Lent is not only about giving up things, but also a second chance to renew those resolutions inevitably broken in January. Our vicar's wife told me she did not look forward to a visit from the Bishop before Easter as he always gave up whisky for Lent, as a result of which he was extremely short tempered.
When the Second World War was over and sweets no longer rationed I did give up chocolate for Lent and have continued to do so - not that I eat a lot of it but it is a real sacrifice. Nowadays one hears of such tales of famine that we who have all we want to eat are fortunate indeed and must spare a thought in our prayers for those suffering from hunger and thirst.
When the Second World War was over and sweets no longer rationed I did give up chocolate for Lent and have continued to do so - not that I eat a lot of it but it is a real sacrifice. Nowadays one hears of such tales of famine that we who have all we want to eat are fortunate indeed and must spare a thought in our prayers for those suffering from hunger and thirst.
