Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) · Seh-shanbeh-ye E'teraf

Culture of origin: Christian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Australia (national) · Canada (federal) · Christianity · France · Germany (nationwide) · United Kingdom (England and Wales) · United States (federal)

Shrove Tuesday takes its name from "shrive", to hear confession, which Christians made before Lent. Because eggs, butter and fat were given up for the fast, they were used up in pancakes, hence Pancake Day in Britain and Ireland, with its pancake races; in French it is Mardi Gras, "Fat Tuesday", and in German Fastnacht. It closes Carnival, with the great parades of New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, and falls between February 3 and March 9.