The word “shrive” has fallen out of general usage, but its dictionary definition is “to impose a penance upon (a penitent) and grant him or her sacramental absolution”. As you can see, its application doesn’t extend far beyond the Roman Catholic religion.
This piece of etymological exploration is particularly relevant because it gives its name to Shrove Tuesday, an important day in the Christian calendar. Many of us will think of it in more secular terms, as Pancake Day, but tomorrow marks the eve of Lent, a period of 40 days and 40 nights leading up to Easter and which Christians observe through prayer, fasting, charity and abstinence.
According to the Gospel of Mark, “at once the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. He was there for 40 days, being tempted by Satan.” And so, according to tradition, believers commemorate this period by depriving themselves of things that can be considered temptations, such as meat and animal-based products, alcohol, and sugary treats like chocolate or sweets.
It is a time to express devotion to spiritual matters rather than more corporeal pleasures, and some people are inspired by the arrival of Lent to make a voluntary, more contemporary, sacrifice, such as giving up forms of personal amusement – gambling or social media, for example.
Wherever you may stand on the religious spectrum, a period of deprivation and self-discipline is not exactly a bad thing, or indeed off trend.
In this era of self-absorption and self-gratification, the idea that we might give ourselves a break is to be encouraged. Fasting outside the religious context is practised increasingly for health and dietary reasons, so it’s not a huge stretch to give it some wider significance that plays into mental and psychological refreshment.
And you only have to look at the weight-loss injection boom to see that deprivation is in vogue. One injection a week and it’s a short cut to removing all those sensory pleasures from our intake. Portion size is radically reduced, alcohol is a no-no, and I can’t imagine that many users find much fun in a lemon meringue pie.
But that is essentially a vanity option. While the weight-loss drugs have identifiable health benefits, many simply take it to make themselves look better. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but there’s also nothing wrong with attempting to make deprivation a more meaningful exercise.
We live in an age of indulgence, when we are encouraged to have whatever we want, whenever we want it, and this cannot be healthy for us as humans, or as a society. Practising self-restraint is a dramatic and helpful counterpoint to the mores of modern life.
square KATE LISTER
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Read MoreLent is based on religious doctrine, and it’s unrealistic and unreasonable to expect non-believers to buy into its symbolism. But it comes at just the right time of year, when the renewal of nature is in the air, to inspire people towards a period of self-reflection and spiritual significance.
You don’t have to think of Jesus in the wilderness resisting Satan’s temptations, but instead, while managing your own particular sacrifices, perhaps meditate instead on the modern world’s iniquities – the people scarred by war, by hunger, by poverty, and by the widening inequalities of globalisation.
So have your pancakes. Their original purpose was to use up the eggs, flour and sugar in the house before the period of abstinence began, and there aren’t many more delicious ways to mark the start of a fast. And, if it’s not your thing, forget about the religious meaning attached to a 40-day period of temperance. It’s merely good for you. And it’s got far fewer side-effects than Ozempic.
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