Shrovetide, also known as the Pre-Lenten Season, is the Christian period of preparation before the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. Shrovetide starts on Septuagesima Sunday, includes Sexagesima Sunday, Quinquagesima Sunday, as well as Shrove Monday, and culminates on Shrove Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras. During the season of Shrovetide, it is customary for Christians to ponder what Lenten sacrifices they will make for Lent. Another hallmark of Shrovetide is the opportunity for a last round of merrymaking associated with Carnival before the start of the somber Lenten season. On the final day of the season, Shrove Tuesday, many traditional Christians, such as Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Roman Catholics, "make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with." During Shrovetide, many churches place a basket in the narthex to collect the previous year's Holy Week palm branches that were blessed and distributed during the Palm Sunday liturgies; on Shrove Tuesday, churches burn these palms to make the ashes used during the services held on the very next day, Ash Wednesday.
Western churches
In the Roman Rite Form and Extraordinary, and in similar Anglican and Lutheran uses, a pre-Lenten season lasts from Septuagesima Sunday until Shrove Tuesday and has thus also been known as Shrovetide. The Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite that includes this special period of 17 days refers to it as the season of Septuagesima; the Ordinariate Form uses the term Pre-Lent. The liturgy of the period is characterized by violet vestments, the omission of the Alleluia before the Gospel, and a more penitential mood. Fasting does not commence until the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. The earliest the Pre-Lenten season can begin is January 18 and the latest it can end is March 9. It is absent in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite and more recent Anglican forms of all these traditions, but may be found in some Lutheran churches who use the One-Year Lectionary to organize the church year. In Northern Germany, local tradition states that if "sausages and sauerkraut are eaten at Shrovetide, good luck will follow". On the last day of Shrovetide, in Bohemia, a man personifies "Shrovetide" in a procession of masqueraders and whoever is able to snatch straw from his hat and place it under a hen in the coming Spring is said to have eggs that surely will hatch.
Eastern Churches
In the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite, the pre-Lenten season lasts three weeks, beginning on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee and continuing through the Sunday of Forgiveness. Since the liturgical day begins at sunset, and Great Lent begins on a Monday, the point at which Great Lent begins is at Vesperson the night of the Sunday of Forgiveness, with a "Ceremony of Mutual Forgiveness". Thus begins the first day of the Great Fast, which is known as Clean Monday. The weeks of pre-Lent and Great Lent are anticipatory by nature; they begin on Monday and end on Sunday, each week being named for the theme of the upcoming Sunday. The hymns used during the Pre-Lenten and Lenten seasons are taken from a book called the Triodion. The weeks of the Pre-Lenten Season break are:
Zacchaeus Sunday is sometimes regarded as a pre-Lenten Sunday because of its place in the Slavic lectionary. In that tradition, it is the 11th Sunday before Pascha. There are no hymns proper to this Sunday, however; its only distinguishing feature is the reading of the Gospel concerning Zacchaeus. This lectionary reading is sometimes also appointed on the same Sunday in the Byzantine lectionary, as well. The week following this Sunday is a normal, non-Lenten time, since it falls outside the Triodion.
The Publican and the Pharisee: 10th Sunday before Pascha. The week following this Sunday is a fast-free week, lest the faithful be tempted, like the Pharisee to boast about fasting.
The Prodigal Son: 9th Sunday before Pascha. The week following this Sunday is the last during which the laity may eat meat or meat products. The fasting rules for this week are the same as those for non-Lenten periods.
The Last Judgment or Meat-Fare Sunday : 8th Sunday before Pascha. The week following this Sunday is called Cheese-Fare Week and is a fast-free week, with the exception that meat and meat products are forbidden.
Sunday of Forgiveness or Cheese-Fare Sunday: 7th Sunday before Pascha. This Sunday is the last day dairy products may be consumed. Throughout Great Lent, fish, wine, and olive oil will be allowed only on certain days.
