Shrove Tuesday

Here we are.......nearing the end of another month! It's amazing how fast these days and weeks pass us by. I am grateful we have chosen to live in harmony with the rhythms that surround us......the seasons, festivals and holidays, birthdays, and our quiet days. They are all pregnant with meaning and experiences that create memories for our children that will carry them through to a time when they might have their own families. It is there that they will choose what rhythms they will follow, they will recall on their moments in childhood and reflect on a time when they, too, celebrated a day, for whatever reason. I am excited to think that by simply choosing to live and celebrate the seasonal rhythms with our children we are creating another generation that will live a little more closely to the world around them. What a lovely thought!

Today is Mardi Gras and Shrove Tuesday. All over the world folks are celebrating with masks and costumes to end almost 40 days (or more depending on the region but usually begins on or after Epiphany) worth of carnival celebrations. The biggest celebration is today, the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten season.

Mardi Gras in French literally means 'Fat Tuesday' referring to the last night before the annual fasting of rich and fatty foods before Lent. In English tradition the week leading up to Ash Wednesday is called 'shrovetide' and has it's own celebratory activities like football games and pancake races!

Today, It's a Simple Life is celebrating by making masks and using our felted beads from the other day to make a necklace. We will make pancakes for dinner and an applesauce cookie that I have been dreaming of for days now! Choosing these simple activities to share with our children will allow us to feel apart of our greater world, celebrating a moment rich with history as well as giving a beginning to the next phase of 'quiet' celebration for Lent, leading up to Palm Sunday, Holy Week and then Easter! Spring abounds with so many reasons to celebrate the newness in our lives; how will you celebrate Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday and then the beginning of the Lenten season with your family?

We wish you a beautiful start to your season of Lent!