Dave sings in the church choir with Becky and me. Besides singing he plays trumpet.
He really loves to play his trumpet any chance he gets. He plays it at home. He plays in a community band. Occasionally he does special music for the worship service. Every year about this time he asks me and a few other musicians if we want to put something together for our church’s Tuesday Night Pancake Dinner. Music is very important to Dave, so except for one otherwise-committed year, I always have said yes to Dave’s request. After all, music makes me happy, too.
For our sets, Dave suggests some Dixieland, some 1930s and ‘40s big band songs and a smattering of standard easy listening tunes. He is a few years older than me and really understands this music. He lived it, in a sense. This music is not of my time or early experience, so I approach this gig as an opportunity for me to try some new things.
It should be enjoyable. We will gather in the church basement to eat pancakes, talk with friends and have fun enjoying music. It’s a win for everyone involved.
Some of the music we will be playing is a type of jazz associated with the Mardi Gras celebrations of New Orleans. “Mardi Gras” is the name some give to the day before Lent. It means “Fat Tuesday.” In some cultures this day is referred to as “Carnival.”
Others, especially those in Britain and other Commonwealth countries, call the day before Lent “Pancake Day.” Historically, one purpose of these kinds of pre-Lenten celebrations was to use up foods that were considered somewhat indulgent to eat during a period of fasting. For many, fasting is understood as a part of the Lenten season.
Although the original purpose seems to have been to avoid wasting food, carnival and Mardi Gras-like celebrations have come to be known as a day or days of over-indulgence and decadence. One last fling, I guess, before the seriousness of Lent.
Some churches also refer to the Tuesday before Lent as Shrove Tuesday. “Shrove” means obtaining absolution from one’s sins by confession and penance. In some traditions, Shrove Tuesday would be when people go to church to be absolved of their sins in preparation for Lent. A more serious, somber way to spend the day, perhaps.
Lent is the 40-day period before Easter Sunday although actually it is 46 days long since Sundays are not included in the count. Lent begins the day after Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day and Mardi Gras. This day is known as Ash Wednesday because the ashes of the burned palms used during the previous year’s Palm Sunday services — Palm Sunday being the Sunday before Easter — are rubbed on the foreheads of churchgoers during the Ash Wednesday service. This signifies desire for repentance and may serve as a reminder that we humans come from and return to dust.
This year Easter falls on April 21 which is quite late. Easter is considered a “moveable feast” because the date changes from year to year depending on the phases of the moon and other astronomical and calendar occurrences. Easter can come as late as April 25 and as early as March 22.
Eastertide is of supreme important to those of the Christian faith. For Christians, Easter is when we observe and celebrate perhaps the most important event in human history, the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. Without Easter, there would be no Christianity.
By the time this column appears, I will have played music at the Pancake Day Dinner. I will have enjoyed communing with others, playing some good music with friends and indulging in stacks of pancakes. And then I will prepare for Lent.
