To hate it being called pancake tuesday

[scrambledeggsandbeans]

Just that really, it's shrove Tuesday it is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter – was traditionally a time of fasting

The Guardian don't even capitalise it

@Anyotherdude We're atheists but we always call it Shrove Thursday because we want our children to understand where traditions come from.

I think you could argue that the UK is more "christian" than Ireland. After all, your head of state is the head of the established church in England. In Ireland church and state are separate.

But yes, Ireland certainly had more practising christians in recent decades than GB (I'm excluding NI as they would probably have more than Ireland or GB). Ireland is becoming much more secular, with a lot of people who describe themselves as catholic being cultural rather than practising catholics.

Given the terms pancake tuesday/pancake day have been around an awfully long time, I'm not sure that the different rates of christianity would be a factor. And if it did have an impact, you'd expect it would Shrove tuesday rather than pancake tuesday.

Maybe it's catholic vs protestant. I always thought protestants didn't do Lent so if you don't do lent, the tuesday element wouldn't be important?

What heathens. Pancakes deserve capitalisation.

I know it’s shrove Tuesday buf I’m not religious but we’ve always enjoyed pancake day - each to their own

@OchonAgusOchonOh Oh, Protestants do Lent too....

Every day is a school day.

We always thought the Protestants had a much easier time of it when we were kids.

It depends on the type of Protestant.

I was amazed, after an insulated Catholic childhood, to find that practically nobody describes themselves as a Protestant (except in NI), it's just an umbrella term that Catholics use to encompass every church arising from the Reformation (including Anglicans, who see themselves as the midway point between Catholicism and Protestantism). Some do Lent, some don't.

Orthodox and Catholics really do Lent. And some Anglicans and Lutherans. Any lower church than that, it's hit and miss, or no Lent at all.

Really interesting about the NI protestant thing. I wonder is that to create a feeling of unity with other predominantly unionist churches? Obviously I know you can be a catholic unionist and a protestant nationalist but it would be more unusual than the converse.

What is a "lower church"? I've heard the term but I have no idea what the difference is between high church and low church.

Is anglican church of Ireland/England/Scotland/Wales? Is there a church of wales? I've never heard it referred to.

No @OchonAgusOchonOh there's no Church of Wales as such. There is a Church of England in Wales. We were colonised . Wales was cannibalised. But they kept their language and we are struggling to keep ours . Not sure what the moral is here lads.

Very few it seems.
But then I grew up in Ireland at a time when the country was apparently staunchly Catholic but I would say it definitely was not!

I was a child when the Catholic church child sex abuse scandals started being reported so that did it for me and I stopped believing any small part of it that I used to believe!

I thought that might be the case. Presumably because Wales was colonised before the church of england was established. When was Wales colonised?

I think you'll find that it's actually pronounced p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p pancake day.

It's called 'Stephens's day' where I've from In Ireland 😂
Pronounced Stephen-zezz 😂

Oh I understand that it's a painful day for many, I'm just saying that most people associate it with more than just Santa, whether they enjoy or celebrate Christmas or not.

I've heard a few people call it 'turkey day' in recent years, which I think is something people call thanksgiving, but saying that it seems like more of a jokey thing rather than a name that will 'stick' for Christmas 😅

It gets complicated....the Church of England is Anglican, but the Church of Scotland is Presbyterian. The Anglican church in Scotland is very small called the Scottish Episcopalian Church.

I think there is a small Anglican "Church of Ireland" in Ireland itself and that the few protestants in the south tend to belong to it. They have bishops, priests etc like catholics. Some Anglican ministers choose to be called "Father" (even in England) but it's not that common.

Almost all protestants in the North are Presbeterians and have much more in common with Scottish protestants than with English Anglicans ... they have no bishops or priests, church elders and ministers run things.

All the protestant churches reject the idea that there is anyone on earth who can speak with authority about what God wants. The Catholic and Orthodox churches have popes / patriarchs who have traditionally been regarded as being able to speak with Devine authority.

Wales was Incorporated into England in 1536 by Henry VIII. One year after the break with Rome I think. Hence the statistics are always England and Wales. Fair play to them for keeping the Cymraeg language. Miserable fuckers at Holyhead but sin scéal eile.

Wonders of Google.... there is a small Anglican Church in Wales, but for some reason it is called "The Church in Wales" rather than the Church of wales.

I was told once the Sundays aren’t part of lent , just the other days making it 40. So on Sunday you can take the host , drink the wine or have anything you have given up for Lent.
Now I know that Shrove comes from absolution at confession ( thanks pp on this thread) shall call it pancake day in future ! Being the atheist I am , these days.
Thanks also to the pp who remarked that being an atheist was great what with all that food, chocolate, booze and presents. Made me smile .

ps can you have pancakes tomorrow ( Saturday) you know , just to perfect them for Tuesday? Asking for a friend

The church of Ireland isn't all that small. Certainly in comparison to catholicism it is but there are still plenty of churches around. There are three within spitting distance (well, 40 minute drive) of me and I live rurally. I know they have bishops and priests but our local one goes by Rev and is a woman.

Do church of England ones not get ordained as priests? What do they call the equivalent of being ordained?

Sorry for the 20 questions but I find it all really interesting, despite being an atheist.

I wonder is it a breakaway group? I will google.

I'm Jewish with three Jewish DC and an atheist partner. We like pancakes, that's it 😁😁

Wikipedia says:

The Church in Wales (Welsh: Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) adopted its name by accident. The Welsh Church Act 1914 referred throughout to "the Church in Wales", the phrase being used to indicate the part of the Church of England within Wales. At a convention (of the Welsh Church) held in Cardiff in October 1917, Mr Justice Sankey said that, while the name "the Church of Wales" appealed to him, he advised that there were good legal reasons why the name "the Church in Wales" should be adopted, at least at first, in order to follow the wording in the act. The matter was therefore left at that convention for the second Governing Body to decide at its first session.[7]

I'm possibly a bit like you...brought up in a C of E tradition but an atheist. Find churches / denomination intersting. Church of England priests are definitely ordained and I think the process is quite long.

Intersting that Church of Ireland is so big. The Scottish anglican church is very small.

That's a total swiz. We were never told you were allowed to break the giving up on sundays. Paddy's day and your birthday if it was during lent were the only accepted concessions.