108-436: Mardi Gras ( UK : / ˌ m ɑːr d i ˈ ɡ r ɑː / , US : / ˈ m ɑːr d i ɡ r ɑː / ; also known as Shrove Tuesday ) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn ); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday . Mardi Gras is French for " Fat Tuesday ", reflecting the practice of the last night of consuming rich, fatty foods in preparation for
216-508: A Lenten calendar , fasting, abstaining from luxuries, and reading a daily devotional . The Lenten fast traditionally emphasizes eating simpler, vegetarian food, and refraining from food that would give undue pleasure; as such, Christians historically abstained from meat, eggs and lacticinia (dairy products) during the 40-day fasting season of Lent—a practice that continues in Eastern Christianity (in denominations such as
324-576: A West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the northern Netherlands. The resident population at this time was generally speaking Common Brittonic —the insular variety of Continental Celtic , which was influenced by the Roman occupation. This group of languages ( Welsh , Cornish , Cumbric ) cohabited alongside English into
432-469: A Lenten sacrifice, it is customary to pray for strength to keep it; many often wish others for doing so as well, e.g. "May God bless your Lenten sacrifice." 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
540-559: A century as Received Pronunciation (RP). However, due to language evolution and changing social trends, some linguists argue that RP is losing prestige or has been replaced by another accent, one that the linguist Geoff Lindsey for instance calls Standard Southern British English. Others suggest that more regionally-oriented standard accents are emerging in England. Even in Scotland and Northern Ireland, RP exerts little influence in
648-490: A concert event at Caesars Superdome ), Bacchus (Sunday), and Zulu and Rex (Tuesday). Other cities along the Gulf Coast with early French colonial heritage, from Pensacola, Florida ; Galveston, Texas ; to Lake Charles and Lafayette, Louisiana ; and north to Natchez, Mississippi and Alexandria, Louisiana , have active Mardi Gras celebrations. Galveston's first recorded Mardi Gras celebration, in 1867, included
756-402: A dual purpose of allowing Christians to repent of any sins they might have committed before the start of Lent on the next day Ash Wednesday and giving them the opportunity to engage in a last round of merriment before the start of the somber Lenten season, which is characterized by making a Lenten sacrifice , fasting , praying and engaging in various spiritual disciplines , such as marking
864-609: A form of the English word shrive , which means to give absolution for someone's sins by way of Confession and doing penance . Thus Shrove Tuesday was named after the custom of Christians to be "shriven" before the start of Lent. In the United Kingdom , Ireland and parts of the Commonwealth , Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday , as it became a traditional custom to eat pancakes as
972-604: A grand gala. In the rural Acadiana area, many Cajuns celebrate with the Courir de Mardi Gras , a tradition that dates to medieval celebrations in France. St. Louis , Missouri , founded in 1764 by French fur traders, claims to host the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States. The celebration is held in the historic French neighborhood, Soulard , and attracts hundreds of thousands of people from around
1080-508: A greater movement, normally [əʊ], [əʉ] or [əɨ]. Dropping a morphological grammatical number , in collective nouns , is stronger in British English than North American English. This is to treat them as plural when once grammatically singular, a perceived natural number prevails, especially when applying to institutional nouns and groups of people. The noun 'police', for example, undergoes this treatment: Police are investigating
1188-406: A lesser class or social status and often discounted or considered of a low intelligence. Another contribution to the standardisation of British English was the introduction of the printing press to England in the mid-15th century. In doing so, William Caxton enabled a common language and spelling to be dispersed among the entirety of England at a much faster rate. Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of
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#17327652337731296-530: A masked ball at Turner Hall (Sealy at 21st St.) and a theatrical performance from Shakespeare's "King Henry IV" featuring Alvan Reed (a justice of the peace weighing in at 350 pounds) as Falstaff. The first year that Mardi Gras was celebrated on a grand scale in Galveston was 1871 with the emergence of two rival Mardi Gras societies, or "Krewes" called the Knights of Momus (known only by the initials "K.O.M.") and
1404-492: A meal. In Irish the day is known as Máirt Inide , from the Latin initium (Jejūniī) , "beginning of Lent ." Elsewhere, the day has also been called " Mardi Gras ", meaning "Fat Tuesday", after the type of celebratory meal that day. In Germany , the day is known as Fastnachtsdienstag , Faschingsdienstag , Karnevalsdienstag or Veilchendienstag (the last of which translates to violet [the flower] Tuesday). It
1512-632: A parade, just tableau and ball. The Knights of Momus and Rex came about in 1872, with the last of the old-line krewes the Krewe of Proteus being formed 10 years later. Of these 5 groups only Rex and Proteus still formally parade, with the Knights of Chaos replacing Momus. The parades of the largest krewes (colloquially known as "super krewes") came later, during the 1960s/70's, and traditionally occur immediately prior to and on Shrove Tuesday, including those of Endymion (Saturday, which also culminates with
1620-659: A process called T-glottalisation . National media, being based in London, have seen the glottal stop spreading more widely than it once was in word endings, not being heard as "no [ʔ] " and bottle of water being heard as "bo [ʔ] le of wa [ʔ] er". It is still stigmatised when used at the beginning and central positions, such as later , while often has all but regained /t/ . Other consonants subject to this usage in Cockney English are p , as in pa [ʔ] er and k as in ba [ʔ] er. In most areas of England and Wales, outside
1728-490: A range of health and social care, training, education, and employment services in the UK for disabled people and others who are marginalised. Scarborough celebrates by closing the foreshore to all traffic, closing schools early, and inviting all to skip. Traditionally, long ropes were used from the nearby harbour. The town crier rang the pancake bell, situated on the corner of Westborough (main street) and Huntriss Row. Since 1996
1836-520: A regional accent or dialect. However, about 2% of Britons speak with an accent called Received Pronunciation (also called "the King's English", "Oxford English" and " BBC English" ), that is essentially region-less. It derives from a mixture of the Midlands and Southern dialects spoken in London in the early modern period. It is frequently used as a model for teaching English to foreign learners. In
1944-412: A relatively common festive tradition in the UK, especially England . Participants with frying pans race through the streets tossing pancakes into the air and catching them in the pan while running. The pancake race at Olney traditionally has women contestants who carry a frying pan and race over a 415-yard (379 m) course to the finishing line. The rules are strict: contestants must toss the pancake at
2052-463: A replica "pancake bell" situated at Newborough and North Street has been rung to initiate the day's festivities. Shrove Tuesday in England often involved a form of ritual begging, not dissimilar to wassailing , in which children and adolescents would go door-to-door asking for tidbits from the frying pan. If the household was not forthcoming, they could expect levels of mischief, including the pelting of their house, knock and run, or gate stealing. This
2160-514: 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." This moveable feast is determined by the date of Easter . The expression "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word shrive , meaning absolution following confession. Christians traditionally visit their church on Shrove Tuesday to confess their sins and clean their soul, thus being shriven (absolved) before
2268-471: A specific racial/ethnic group or sexual minority , (week) = week-long holidays, (month) = month-long holidays, (36) = Title 36 Observances and Ceremonies British English British English (abbreviations: BrE , en-GB , and BE ) is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . More narrowly, it can refer specifically to
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#17327652337732376-725: Is also due to London-centric influences. Examples of R-dropping are car and sugar , where the R is not pronounced. British dialects differ on the extent of diphthongisation of long vowels, with southern varieties extensively turning them into diphthongs, and with northern dialects normally preserving many of them. As a comparison, North American varieties could be said to be in-between. Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are usually preserved, and in several areas also /oː/ and /eː/, as in go and say (unlike other varieties of English, that change them to [oʊ] and [eɪ] respectively). Some areas go as far as not diphthongising medieval /iː/ and /uː/, that give rise to modern /aɪ/ and /aʊ/; that is, for example, in
2484-530: Is an important celebration in Lutheran , Anglican and Catholic European nations. The three-day Carnival of Binche , near Mons , is one of the best known in Belgium. It takes place around Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras) just before Lent . Performers known as Gilles wear elaborate costumes in the national colours of red, black and yellow. During the parade, they throw oranges at the crowd. In 2003, it
2592-437: Is based on British English, but has more influence from American English , often grouped together due to their close proximity. British English, for example, is the closest English to Indian English, but Indian English has extra vocabulary and some English words are assigned different meanings. Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day ) is the final day of Shrovetide , marking
2700-669: Is celebrated with fancy dress and a partial school holiday. Similarly, in German American areas, such as Pennsylvania Dutch Country , it is known as Fastnacht Day . In the Netherlands , it is known as "vastenavond", or in Limburgish dialect " vastelaovend ", though the word " vastelaovend " usually refers to the entire period of carnival in the Netherlands . In some parts of Switzerland (e.g. Lucerne ),
2808-573: Is eaten. On the Portuguese island of Madeira , malasadas are eaten on Terça-feira Gorda (Fat Tuesday in English), which is also the last day of the Carnival of Madeira . Malasadas were cooked in order to use up all the lard and sugar in the house, in preparation for Lenten restrictions. This tradition was taken to Hawaii , where Shrove Tuesday is known as Malasada Day , which dates back to
2916-595: Is filled with large banquets held by the various organizing societies and generally comes to a climax beginning on what is variously known as Schmutziger Donnerstag or Fetter Donnerstag ( Fat Thursday ), Unsinniger Donnerstag (Nonsense Thursday), Altweiberfastnacht , Greesentag and others. In standard German , schmutzig means "dirty", but in the Alemannic dialects schmotzig means "lard" ( Schmalz ), or "fat"; thus "Greasy Thursday", as remaining winter stores of lard and butter used to be consumed at that time, before
3024-787: Is held in North Somercotes in Lincolnshire , England. In London, the Rehab Parliamentary Pancake Race takes place every Shrove Tuesday, with teams from the British lower house (the House of Commons ), the upper house (the House of Lords ), and the Fourth Estate , contending for the title of Parliamentary Pancake Race Champions. The fun relay race is to raise awareness of Rehab, which provides
3132-740: Is included in style guides issued by various publishers including The Times newspaper, the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge University Press . The Oxford University Press guidelines were originally drafted as a single broadsheet page by Horace Henry Hart, and were at the time (1893) the first guide of their type in English; they were gradually expanded and eventually published, first as Hart's Rules , and in 2002 as part of The Oxford Manual of Style . Comparable in authority and stature to The Chicago Manual of Style for published American English ,
3240-480: Is recorded to have taken place in 1833 with Bernard de Marigny funding the first organized parade, tableau, and ball. The tradition in New Orleans expanded to the point that it became synonymous with the city in popular perception, and embraced by residents of New Orleans beyond those of French or Catholic heritage. Mardi Gras celebrations are part of the basis of the slogan Laissez les bons temps rouler ("Let
3348-616: Is the name for Carnival in Denmark, held either on the Sunday or Monday before Ash Wednesday. This holiday occurs seven weeks before Easter Sunday, with children dressing up in costumes and gathering treats for the Fastelavn feast. The holiday is generally considered to be a time for children's fun and family games and on Shrove Sunday, "the churches hold a special family service where children are invited to wear fancy dress." In Estonia ,
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3456-405: Is the opportunity for a last round of merrymaking associated with Mardis Gras before the start of the somber Lenten season. The last day of Shrovetide, Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), is named as such "because people felt bloated having eaten up all the rich foods before Lent" in order to prepare for the coming season of repentance. The festival season varies from city to city; Mardis Gras often refers to
3564-547: The Chambers Dictionary , and the Collins Dictionary record actual usage rather than attempting to prescribe it. In addition, vocabulary and usage change with time; words are freely borrowed from other languages and other varieties of English, and neologisms are frequent. For historical reasons dating back to the rise of London in the ninth century, the form of language spoken in London and
3672-570: The Coptic Orthodox Church ) and among Western Christian congregations practicing the Daniel Fast . Pancakes are associated with Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding Lent, because they are a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. In Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island , small tokens are frequently cooked in the pancakes. Children take delight in discovering
3780-633: The Coptic Orthodox Church ) and among Western Christian congregations practicing the Daniel Fast . Shrovetide provided Christians with the opportunity to use up these foods prior to the start of the 40-day fasting season of Lent. Prior to the 6th century, Lent was normatively observed through the practice of the Black Fast, which enjoins fasting from food and liquids, with the allowance of one vegetarian meal after sunset. The tradition of pancake breakfasts during Shrovetide, as well as that of pancake races, owes itself to this practice of "using up
3888-658: The East Midlands became standard English within the Court, and ultimately became the basis for generally accepted use in the law, government, literature and education in Britain. The standardisation of British English is thought to be from both dialect levelling and a thought of social superiority. Speaking in the Standard dialect created class distinctions; those who did not speak the standard English would be considered of
3996-522: The English language in England , or, more broadly, to the collective dialects of English throughout the British Isles taken as a single umbrella variety, for instance additionally incorporating Scottish English , Welsh English , and Northern Irish English . Tom McArthur in the Oxford Guide to World English acknowledges that British English shares "all the ambiguities and tensions [with]
4104-493: The Royal Spanish Academy with Spanish. Standard British English differs notably in certain vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation features from standard American English and certain other standard English varieties around the world. British and American spelling also differ in minor ways. The accent, or pronunciation system, of standard British English, based in southeastern England, has been known for over
4212-490: The Scots language or Scottish Gaelic ). Each group includes a range of dialects, some markedly different from others. The various British dialects also differ in the words that they have borrowed from other languages. Around the middle of the 15th century, there were points where within the 5 major dialects there were almost 500 ways to spell the word though . Following its last major survey of English Dialects (1949–1950),
4320-641: The UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List . The celebration on the same day in Germany knows many different terms, depending on the region, such as Fastnacht , meaning the eve of the fast that takes place during Lent, or Veilchensdienstag (Violet Tuesday), as it is called in the Lower Rhine region. The celebrations often stretch from Epiphany, known in sections of Germany as Heilige Drei Könige, through
4428-573: The University of Leeds has started work on a new project. In May 2007 the Arts and Humanities Research Council awarded a grant to Leeds to study British regional dialects. The team are sifting through a large collection of examples of regional slang words and phrases turned up by the "Voices project" run by the BBC , in which they invited the public to send in examples of English still spoken throughout
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4536-562: The West Country and other near-by counties of the UK, the consonant R is not pronounced if not followed by a vowel, lengthening the preceding vowel instead. This phenomenon is known as non-rhoticity . In these same areas, a tendency exists to insert an R between a word ending in a vowel and a next word beginning with a vowel. This is called the intrusive R . It could be understood as a merger, in that words that once ended in an R and words that did not are no longer treated differently. This
4644-629: The 21st century. RP, while long established as the standard English accent around the globe due to the spread of the British Empire , is distinct from the standard English pronunciation in some parts of the world; most prominently, RP notably contrasts with standard North American accents. In the 21st century, dictionaries like the Oxford English Dictionary , the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ,
4752-497: The Christian fasting season of Lent , during which the consumption of such foods is avoided. Related popular practices are associated with Carnival celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. In countries such as the United Kingdom , Mardi Gras is more usually known as Pancake Day or (traditionally) Shrove Tuesday, derived from the word shrive , meaning "to administer
4860-836: The English Language (1755) was a large step in the English-language spelling reform , where the purification of language focused on standardising both speech and spelling. By the early 20th century, British authors had produced numerous books intended as guides to English grammar and usage, a few of which achieved sufficient acclaim to have remained in print for long periods and to have been reissued in new editions after some decades. These include, most notably of all, Fowler's Modern English Usage and The Complete Plain Words by Sir Ernest Gowers . Detailed guidance on many aspects of writing British English for publication
4968-666: The Germanic schwein ) is the animal in the field bred by the occupied Anglo-Saxons and pork (like the French porc ) is the animal at the table eaten by the occupying Normans. Another example is the Anglo-Saxon cu meaning cow, and the French bœuf meaning beef. Cohabitation with the Scandinavians resulted in a significant grammatical simplification and lexical enrichment of the Anglo-Frisian core of English;
5076-472: The Knights of Myth, both of which devised night parades, masked balls, exquisite costumes and elaborate invitations. The Knights of Momus, led by some prominent Galvestonians, decorated horse-drawn wagons for a torch lit night parade. Boasting such themes as "The Crusades", "Peter the Great", and "Ancient France", the procession through downtown Galveston culminated at Turner Hall with a presentation of tableaux and
5184-704: The Lenten fast, to abstain from eating meat. It is often celebrated with street processions or fancy dress. The most famous of these events has become the Brazilian Carnival in Rio de Janeiro . Venetians have long celebrated carnival with a masquerade . The use of the term "carnival" in other contexts derives from this celebration. In Spain, the Carnival Tuesday is named "día de la tortilla" ("omelette day"): an omelette made with some sausage or pork fat
5292-862: The Oxford Manual is a fairly exhaustive standard for published British English that writers can turn to in the absence of specific guidance from their publishing house. British English is the basis of, and very similar to, Commonwealth English . Commonwealth English is English as spoken and written in the Commonwealth countries , though often with some local variation. This includes English spoken in Australia , Malta , New Zealand , Nigeria , and South Africa . It also includes South Asian English used in South Asia, in English varieties in Southeast Asia , and in parts of Africa. Canadian English
5400-712: The South East, there are significantly different accents; the Cockney accent spoken by some East Londoners is strikingly different from Received Pronunciation (RP). Cockney rhyming slang can be (and was initially intended to be) difficult for outsiders to understand, although the extent of its use is often somewhat exaggerated. Londoners speak with a mixture of accents, depending on ethnicity, neighbourhood, class, age, upbringing, and sundry other factors. Estuary English has been gaining prominence in recent decades: it has some features of RP and some of Cockney. Immigrants to
5508-673: The Swedish semla ). The celebration often includes downhill sledging. In Poland , a related celebration falls on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday and is called tłusty czwartek ( Fat Thursday ). In some areas of the United States with large Polish-American communities, such as Chicago , Milwaukee , Detroit , and Buffalo , Tłusty Czwartek is celebrated with pączki or faworki eating contests, music and other Polish food. It may be held on Shrove Tuesday or in
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#17327652337735616-550: The UK in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country and particularly to London. Surveys started in 1979 by the Inner London Education Authority discovered over 125 languages being spoken domestically by the families of the inner city's schoolchildren. Notably Multicultural London English , a sociolect that emerged in the late 20th century spoken mainly by young, working-class people in multicultural parts of London . Since
5724-640: The United Kingdom , as well as within the countries themselves. The major divisions are normally classified as English English (or English as spoken in England (which is itself broadly grouped into Southern English , West Country , East and West Midlands English and Northern English ), Northern Irish English (in Northern Ireland), Welsh English (not to be confused with the Welsh language ), and Scottish English (not to be confused with
5832-465: The West Scottish accent. Phonological features characteristic of British English revolve around the pronunciation of the letter R, as well as the dental plosive T and some diphthongs specific to this dialect. Once regarded as a Cockney feature, in a number of forms of spoken British English, /t/ has become commonly realised as a glottal stop [ʔ] when it is in the intervocalic position, in
5940-410: The adjective little is predominant elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is a meaningful degree of uniformity in written English within the United Kingdom, and this could be described by the term British English . The forms of spoken English, however, vary considerably more than in most other areas of the world where English is spoken and so a uniform concept of British English is more difficult to apply to
6048-489: The ashes used during the services held on the very next day, Ash Wednesday. In the United Kingdom , as part of community celebration, many towns held traditional Shrove Tuesday " mob football " games, some dating as far back as the 17th century. The practice mostly died out in the 19th century after the passing of the Highway Act 1835 which banned playing football on public highways. A number of towns have maintained
6156-488: The award of the grant in 2007, Leeds University stated: that they were "very pleased"—and indeed, "well chuffed"—at receiving their generous grant. He could, of course, have been "bostin" if he had come from the Black Country , or if he was a Scouser he would have been well "made up" over so many spondoolicks, because as a Geordie might say, £460,000 is a "canny load of chink". Most people in Britain speak with
6264-578: The celebrations, those who were unmarried were taunted with jeers and singing. In Fennoscandia , in particular in Sweden, Finland and Estonia, the day is associated with the semla , a type of almond paste -filled sweet roll . The day is known as Laskiainen in Finland and Vastlapäev in Estonia . It is a celebration of Balto-Finnic origins, which includes both pagan and ecclesiastic traditions, and
6372-488: The country have notable celebrations. Mardi Gras arrived in North America as a French Catholic tradition with the Le Moyne brothers, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville , in the late 17th century, when King Louis XIV sent the pair to defend France's claim on the territory of Louisiane , which included what are now the U.S. states of Alabama , Mississippi , Louisiana and part of eastern Texas . The expedition, led by Iberville, entered
6480-406: The country. Although founded in the 1760s, the St. Louis Mardi Gras festivities only date to the 1980s. The city's celebration begins with "12th night," held on Epiphany, and ends on Fat Tuesday. The season is peppered with various parades celebrating the city's rich French Catholic heritage. Mardi Gras, as a celebration of life before the more-somber occasion of Ash Wednesday, nearly always involves
6588-514: The country. The BBC Voices project also collected hundreds of news articles about how the British speak English from swearing through to items on language schools. This information will also be collated and analysed by Johnson's team both for content and for where it was reported. "Perhaps the most remarkable finding in the Voices study is that the English language is as diverse as ever, despite our increased mobility and constant exposure to other accents and dialects through TV and radio". When discussing
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#17327652337736696-485: The day is called Užgavėnės . People eat pancakes ( blynai ) and Lithuanian-style doughnuts . In Sweden , the day is called Fettisdagen (Fat Tuesday), and is generally celebrated by eating a type of sweet roll called fastlagsbulle or semla . In Finland , the day is called laskiainen and is generally celebrated by eating green pea soup and a pastry called laskiaispulla (sweet bread filled with whipped cream and jam or almond paste, same as
6804-444: The day is called Güdeldienstag or Güdisdienstag (preceded by Güdismontag). According to the Duden dictionary, the term derives from "Güdel", which means a fat belly stuffed full of food. In Portuguese -, Spanish - and Italian -speaking countries, among others, it is known as Carnival (to use the English spelling). This derives from Medieval Latin carnelevamen ("the putting away of flesh") and thus to another aspect of
6912-407: The day is similarly called Vastlapäev and is generally celebrated by eating pea soup and whipped-cream or whipped-cream and jam-filled sweet-buns called vastlakukkel , similar to the Swedish fastlagsbulle or semla . Children also typically go sledding on this day. In Iceland , the day is known as Sprengidagur (Bursting Day) and is marked by eating salted meat and peas. In Lithuania ,
7020-431: The days immediately preceding it. In Slovenia , Kurentovanje is also the biggest and best known carnival. There are several more local carnivals usually referred to as Laufarija . In Hungary , and the Hungarian-speaking territories, it is called Húshagyókedd [ hu ] ( lit. ' the Tuesday leaving the meat ' ) and is celebrated by fancy dress and visiting neighbours. Shrove Tuesday serves
7128-443: The days of the sugar plantations of the 1800s. The resident Catholic Portuguese workers (who came mostly from Madeira and the Azores ) used up butter and sugar prior to Lent by making large batches of malasadas . In the Lutheran countries of Denmark and Norway , the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is called Fetetirsdag ("Fat Tuesday"); the prior weekend is known as Fastelavn and is marked by eating fastelavnsboller . Fastelavn
7236-482: The end of pre-Lent . Lent begins the following day with Ash Wednesday . Shrove Tuesday is observed in many Christian countries through participating in confession ; the ritual burning of the previous year's Holy Week palms; finalizing one's Lenten sacrifice ; as well as eating pancakes and other sweets. Shrove Tuesday is observed by many Christians, including Anglicans , Lutherans , Methodists Western Orthodox Christians , and Roman Catholics , who "make
7344-426: The fasting began. Altweiberfastnacht often featured women wearing men's clothing and assuming their roles. In many towns across the state of North Rhine Westphalia, a ritual "takeover" of the town halls by local women has become tradition. In Italy Mardi Gras is called Martedì Grasso (Fat Tuesday). It is the main day of Carnival along with the Thursday before, called Giovedí Grasso (Fat Thursday), which ratifies
7452-407: The festival is spelled Carnevale. In Sweden the celebration is called Fettisdagen, when fastlagsbulle is eaten, more commonly called Semla . The name comes from the words "fett" (fat) and "tisdag" (Tuesday). Originally, this was the only day one should eat fastlagsbullar . While not observed nationally throughout the United States, a number of historically ethnically French cities and regions in
7560-441: The first pancake. If the pancake fell on the floor, she would remain unmarried for the next 12 months. As marriages were not traditionally permitted during the Lenten period, as decreed by the Council of Trent , weddings on Shrove Tuesday were popular. In some parts of Ireland the holly from Christmas was saved and burnt in the fire for the pancakes. The night was also known as "Skellig Night" in Counties Cork and Kerry , during
7668-488: The good times roll"), as floats "roll." Festivities formally began in 1853 when a group of Protestant Anglo-Americans , some members of Mobile Mystic Societies , formed the first "old-line" krewe, The Mistick Krewe of Comus , based on Bernard de Marigny 's 1833 parade of paper-mached wagons, a formal tableau vivant and presentation of debutants, followed by a formal ball . The Twelfth Night Revelers were formed in 1870, again with ties to Mobile , but no longer stage
7776-458: The idea of two different morphemes, one that causes the double negation, and one that is used for the point or the verb. Standard English in the United Kingdom, as in other English-speaking nations, is widely enforced in schools and by social norms for formal contexts but not by any singular authority; for instance, there is no institution equivalent to the Académie française with French or
7884-949: The last day of Shrovetide (or Fastelavn or Carnival), thus being synonymous with Shrove Tuesday . Some traditions, such as the one in New Orleans , Louisiana , consider Mardi Gras to stretch the entire period from Twelfth Night (the last night of Christmas which begins Epiphany ) to Ash Wednesday. Others treat the final three-day period before Ash Wednesday as the Mardi Gras. In Mobile, Alabama , Mardi Gras– associated social events begin in November , followed by mystic society balls New Year's Eve, followed by parades and balls in January and February, celebrating up to midnight before Ash Wednesday . In earlier times, parades were held on New Year's Day. Carnival (or Fastelavn or Shrovetide )
7992-523: The last southern Midlands accent to use the broad "a" in words like bath or grass (i.e. barth or grarss ). Conversely crass or plastic use a slender "a". A few miles northwest in Leicestershire the slender "a" becomes more widespread generally. In the town of Corby , five miles (8 km) north, one can find Corbyite which, unlike the Kettering accent, is largely influenced by
8100-518: The later Norman occupation led to the grafting onto that Germanic core of a more elaborate layer of words from the Romance branch of the European languages. This Norman influence entered English largely through the courts and government. Thus, English developed into a "borrowing" language of great flexibility and with a huge vocabulary . Dialects and accents vary amongst the four countries of
8208-585: The like, though death may be a theme in some. The Venice tradition has brought golden masks into the usual round of costumes. Although the Church teaches that it is sinful and that it contravenes the Christian standards of modesty , the practice of some women exposing their breasts during Mardi Gras in New Orleans , US, has been documented since 1889, when the Times-Democrat decried the "degree of immodesty exhibited by nearly all female masqueraders seen on
8316-457: The mass internal migration to Northamptonshire in the 1940s and given its position between several major accent regions, it has become a source of various accent developments. In Northampton the older accent has been influenced by overspill Londoners. There is an accent known locally as the Kettering accent, which is a transitional accent between the East Midlands and East Anglian . It is
8424-463: The modern period, but due to their remoteness from the Germanic languages , influence on English was notably limited . However, the degree of influence remains debated, and it has recently been argued that its grammatical influence accounts for the substantial innovations noted between English and the other West Germanic languages. Initially, Old English was a diverse group of dialects, reflecting
8532-516: The mouth of the Mississippi River on the evening of 2 March 1699 (new style), Lundi Gras . They did not yet know it was the river explored and claimed for France by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in 1683. The party proceeded upstream to a place on the east bank about 60 miles (100 km) downriver from where New Orleans is today, and made camp. This was on 3 March 1699, Mardi Gras, so in honour of this holiday, Iberville named
8640-608: The night before Ash Wednesday, and is variously known by different names, such as Karneval or Fasching in Germany, Austria and German-speaking areas of Switzerland. It is also often referred to as the "fifth season", which traditionally begins with Hoppeditz Erwachen (the waking of Hoppeditz, the Fool who embodies the Karneval season) on 11 November at 11:11 AM (11/11 11:11). and ends with his comic funeral mass on Fastnacht. Karneval
8748-734: The objects, which are intended to be divinatory. For example, the person who receives a coin will be wealthy; a nail indicates that they will become or marry a carpenter. On the final day of Shrovetide, 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." As such, many churches offer Confession on Shrove Tuesday. On Shrove Tuesday, many Christians finalize their decision with respect to what Lenten sacrifices they will make for Lent. While making
8856-400: The observance of fasting at Lent continued up to the 20th century, with Shrove Tuesday ( Irish : Máirt na hInide , "Tuesday of the initium ") marking the last day of the consumption of meat for the Lenten period. This was later relaxed, but with three days of fasting observed, Ash Wednesday, Spy Wednesday , and Good Friday. It was a tradition that the eldest unmarried daughter would toss
8964-496: The opportunity to use up these foods prior to the start of the 40-day fasting season of Lent. Prior to the 6th century, Lent was normatively observed through the practice of the Black Fast , which enjoins fasting from food and liquids, with the allowance of one vegetarian meal and water after sunset. The tradition of pancake breakfasts during Shrovetide, as well as that of pancake races, owes itself to this practice of "using up
9072-533: The palms distributed during the previous year's Palm Sunday liturgies to make the ashes used during the services held on the very next day, Ash Wednesday . In some Christian countries, especially those where the day is called Mardi Gras or a translation thereof, it is a carnival day, the last day of "fat eating" or "gorging" before the fasting period of Lent. The tradition of marking the start of Lent has been documented for centuries. Ælfric of Eynsham 's "Ecclesiastical Institutes" from around 1000 AD states: "In
9180-423: The practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday . Many Christian congregations thus observe the day through eating pancakes or, more specifically, the holding of pancake breakfasts , as well as the ringing of church bells to remind people to repent of their sins before the start of Lent. On Shrove Tuesday, churches also burn
9288-486: The ringing of a church bell. On Pancake Day, "pancake races" are held in villages and towns across the United Kingdom. The tradition is said to have originated in 1445 when a housewife from Olney , Buckinghamshire , was so busy making pancakes that she forgot the time until she heard the church bells ringing for the service. She raced out of the house to church while still carrying her frying pan and pancake, tossing it to prevent it from burning. The pancake race remains
9396-478: The sacrament of confession to; to absolve". During the liturgical season of Lent, some Christians abstain from the consumption of certain foods such as meat, eggs, dairy products, and alcoholic beverages. Most Christian denominations observe the tradition of Lent; exceptions include many churches within the Anabaptist , Baptist , Methodist , and Reformed traditions. Shrovetide provided Christians with
9504-463: The season of Lent in the Christian liturgical calendar . In many Christian parish churches, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, a popular Shrove Tuesday tradition is the ringing of the church bells (on this day, the toll is known as the Shriving Bell) "to call the faithful to confession before the solemn season of Lent" and for people to "begin frying their pancakes". The word shrove is
9612-401: The spoken language. Globally, countries that are former British colonies or members of the Commonwealth tend to follow British English, as is the case for English used by European Union institutions. In China, both British English and American English are taught. The UK government actively teaches and promotes English around the world and operates in over 200 countries . English is
9720-470: The spot Point du Mardi Gras (French: "Mardi Gras Point") and called the nearby tributary Bayou Mardi Gras. Bienville went on to found the settlement of Mobile, Alabama in 1702 as the first capital of French Louisiana. In 1703 French settlers in Mobile established the first organised Mardi Gras celebration tradition in what was to become the United States. The first informal mystic society , or krewe ,
9828-423: The start and the finish, and wear a scarf and apron. Since 1950, the people of Liberal , Kansas , and Olney have held the "International Pancake Day" race between the two towns. The two towns' competitors race along an agreed-upon measured course. The times of the two towns' competitors are compared to determine a winner overall. As of 2021, Liberal leads the competition with 38 wins to Olney's 31. A similar race
9936-419: The start of Lent. As this is the last day of the Christian liturgical season historically known as Carnival or Shrovetide , before the penitential season of Lent , related popular practices, such as indulging in food that one might give up as their Lenten sacrifice for the upcoming forty days, are associated with Shrove Tuesday celebrations. The term Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to
10044-568: The start of the celebrations. The most famous Carnivals in northern Italy are in Venice, Viareggio and Ivrea, while in the southern part of Italy the Sardinian Sartiglia and the intriguing apotropaic masks, especially the mamuthones, issohadores, s'urtzu (and so on), are more popular, belonging to a very ancient tradition. Ivrea has the characteristic " Battle of Oranges " that finds its roots in medieval times. The Italian version of
10152-804: The streets." The practice was mostly limited to tourists in the upper Bourbon Street area. In the crowded streets of the French Quarter, generally avoided by locals on Mardi Gras Day, flashers on balconies cause crowds to form on the streets. In the last decades of the 20th century, the rise in producing commercial videotapes catering to voyeurs helped encourage a tradition of women baring their breasts in exchange for beads and trinkets. Social scientists studying "ritual disrobement" found, at Mardi Gras 1991, 1,200 instances of body-baring in exchange for beads or other favors. (federal) = federal holidays, (abbreviation) = state/territorial holidays, (religious) = religious holidays, (cultural) = holiday related to
10260-522: The surplus eggs, milk and butter" prior to Lent. As such, it was traditional in many societies to eat pancakes or other foods made with the butter, eggs and fat or lard that would need to be used up before the beginning of Lent. Similar foods are fasnachts and pączki . The specific custom of British Christians eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday dates to the 16th century. Along with its emphasis on feasting, another theme of Shrove Tuesday involves Christians repenting of their sins in preparation to begin
10368-399: The surplus eggs, milk and butter" prior to Lent. In many Christian parish churches, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, a popular Shrove Tuesday tradition is the ringing of the church bells (on this day, the toll is known as the Shriving Bell) "to call the faithful to confession before the solemn season of Lent" and for people to "begin frying their pancakes". As such, a hallmark of Shrovetide
10476-603: The theft of work tools worth £500 from a van at the Sprucefield park and ride car park in Lisburn. A football team can be treated likewise: Arsenal have lost just one of 20 home Premier League matches against Manchester City. This tendency can be observed in texts produced already in the 19th century. For example, Jane Austen , a British author, writes in Chapter 4 of Pride and Prejudice , published in 1813: All
10584-1012: The tradition, including Alnwick in Northumberland ( Scoring the Hales ), Ashbourne in Derbyshire (called the Royal Shrovetide Football ), Atherstone in Warwickshire (called simply the Atherstone Ball Game ), St Columb Major in Cornwall (called Hurling the Silver Ball ), and Sedgefield in County Durham ( Sedgefield Ball Game ). Shrove Tuesday was once known as a "half-holiday" in Britain. It started at 11:00 am with
10692-403: The traditional accent of Newcastle upon Tyne , 'out' will sound as 'oot', and in parts of Scotland and North-West England, 'my' will be pronounced as 'me'. Long vowels /iː/ and /uː/ are diphthongised to [ɪi] and [ʊu] respectively (or, more technically, [ʏʉ], with a raised tongue), so that ee and oo in feed and food are pronounced with a movement. The diphthong [oʊ] is also pronounced with
10800-513: The use of masks and costumes by its participants, and the most popular celebratory colors are purple, green, and gold. In New Orleans, for example, these often take the shape of fairies, animals, people from myths, or various Medieval costumes as well as clowns and Indians ( Native Americans ). Many costumes today are simply elaborate creations of colored feathers and capes. Unlike Halloween costumery, Mardi Gras costumes are not usually associated with such things as zombies, mummies, bats, blood, and
10908-750: The varied origins of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. One of these dialects, Late West Saxon , eventually came to dominate. The original Old English was then influenced by two waves of invasion: the first was by speakers of the Scandinavian branch of the Germanic family, who settled in parts of Britain in the eighth and ninth centuries; the second was the Normans in the 11th century, who spoke Old Norman and ultimately developed an English variety of this called Anglo-Norman . These two invasions caused English to become "mixed" to some degree (though it
11016-540: The week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him as he then may hear by his deeds what he is to do [in the way of penance]". By the time of the late Middle Ages , the celebration of Shrovetide lasted until the start of Lent. During the liturgical season of Lent, believers have historically abstained from rich foods such as meat, eggs, lacticinia (dairy products), and alcohol—a practice that continues in Eastern Christianity (in denominations such as
11124-402: The word 'British' and as a result can be used and interpreted in two ways, more broadly or more narrowly, within a range of blurring and ambiguity". Variations exist in formal (both written and spoken) English in the United Kingdom. For example, the adjective wee is almost exclusively used in parts of Scotland, north-east England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally Yorkshire , whereas
11232-568: The world are good and agreeable in your eyes. However, in Chapter 16, the grammatical number is used. The world is blinded by his fortune and consequence. Some dialects of British English use negative concords, also known as double negatives . Rather than changing a word or using a positive, words like nobody, not, nothing, and never would be used in the same sentence. While this does not occur in Standard English, it does occur in non-standard dialects. The double negation follows
11340-634: Was formed in Mobile in 1711, the Boeuf Gras Society . Then came the Striker's Independent Society in 1842, followed by the oldest parading mystic society the Order of Myths or "OOMs" in 1867. In 1720, Biloxi had been made capital of Louisiana. The French Mardi Gras customs had accompanied the colonists who settled there. In 1723, the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans , founded in 1718. The first Mardi Gras parade held in New Orleans
11448-519: Was known as Lent Crocking, Nicky-Nan Night, the Drawing of Cloam, Dappy-Door Night, or Pan Sharding. The children of the hamlet of Whitechapel , Lancashire , keep alive a local variant of this tradition by visiting local households and asking "please a pancake", to be rewarded with oranges or sweets. It is thought this local tradition arose when farm workers visited the wealthier farm and manor owners to ask for pancakes or pancake fillings. In Ireland,
11556-422: Was never a truly mixed language in the strictest sense of the word; mixed languages arise from the cohabitation of speakers of different languages, who develop a hybrid tongue for basic communication). The more idiomatic, concrete and descriptive English is, the more it is from Anglo-Saxon origins. The more intellectual and abstract English is, the more it contains Latin and French influences, e.g. swine (like
11664-592: Was recognized by UNESCO as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity . In the Czech Republic , it is a folk tradition to celebrate Mardi Gras, which is called Masopust (meat-fast, i.e. beginning of the fast there). There are celebrations in many places including Prague , but the tradition also prevails in villages such as Staré Hamry , whose door-to-door processions made it to
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