Shrove Tuesday Liturgy

Pancake Procession (1)

Pancake Procession (2)

Shrove Tuesday Terminology

Shrove Cloning News Release

What is a Shrove?

Links to Shrove Tuesday around the world.

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Shrove Tuesday is one of those days which is little understood, even though it has a long history.  On these pages we are attempting to bring together some of the research that has been compiled in recent years to make this important day more accessible to newcomers to the experience of Lenten worship.  We will begin with a liturgy which has fallen into disuse in North American churches, but is still being shared in some more enlightened parts of the world.  This first liturgy is courtesy of G. H. Singleton, R.O.C., and includes some necessary explanations of terms.

I realize that Shrove Tuesday has fallen upon secular days--and nights! Among High Liturgical Lutherans in the Midwest USA, however, Shrove Tuesday is still treated with reverence.  Next Tuesday, we will gather in the court yards of our parish churches, and after the bidding prayer will sing

   Bringing in the Shroves,
   Bringing in the Shroves,
   We shall go rejoicing,
   Bringing in the Shroves.

We will then form a solemn procession behind the thurifer, crucifer and torch bearers and enter the church, waving our Shroves triumphantly over our heads and singing

   Brightest and best of the Shroves of the morning,
   Shrove on our darkness and lend us thine aid:
   Shrove of the east, the horizon adorning,
   Guide where our Shroves will lead to thine aid.

Once in the sanctuary, we place all of our Shroves in a large metal basin (the technical term for which is the Shrovorium).  When we have shriven ourselves of all of our Shroves, the torchbearers will ignite the collected Shrovarim (as they are technically called in the rubrics) as we sing,

   All God's Children are shriven toda-ay
     A-A-A-A-A-le-i-loo-oo-yah!
   No more Shroves for days and da-ays
     A-A-A-A-A-le-i-loo-oo-yah!
   Forty days is not so long
     A-A-A-A-A-le-i-loo-oo-yah!
   Burn your Shroves, you can't go wrong
     A-A-A-A-A-le-i-loo-oo-yah!

We solemnly leave after the last Shrove is consumed by fire, and return the next day when ashes from the burned Shroves are imposed on our foreheads in what is know as the Grand Imposition.

It is a beautiful and meaningful part of the ritual life of the Church. I can hardly contain my tears as I write about it, and I am sorry that our secular friends have chosen to ignore the rich religious meaning behind the day and have made of it a secular travesty.

Gregory Holmes Singleton, R.O.C.

The above is the classical form of the liturgy.  Through the years there have been accretions to this form, most growing from local tradition being melded with what was handed down by the liturgical leaders.  Some of these will be discussed on following pages.