Today our liturgical color shifts to purple as we enter Pre‑Lent, the ancient Gesima season. Septuagesima Sunday, the first of the three pre‑Lenten Sundays, falls nine Sundays before Easter and three before Ash Wednesday. Historically, the term “Septuagesima” has been applied either to the full seventy‑day span from this Sunday through the Saturday after Easter, or more narrowly to Shrovetide/Gesimatide—the shorter Pre‑Lenten period beginning today and ending on Shrove Tuesday, the eve of Ash Wednesday. This brief season serves as a bridge from Epiphany’s light to Lent’s penitence, inviting Christians to begin preparing their hearts for the disciplines of Lent. Our parish will mark Shrove Tuesday with the traditional pancake supper.

In the Traditional Anglican Rite, Pre‑Lent extends from Septuagesima Sunday through Shrove Tuesday. The season comprises three Sundays, each signaling a gradual shift toward Lenten discipline. The liturgy reflects this change: violet vestments replace the festal colors (except on feast days), the Gloria and the final Gospel are omitted, and the church’s worship takes on a noticeably penitential tone. True fasting, however, does not begin until Ash Wednesday, when Lent officially starts.

Pre‑Lenten customs have long enriched Christian life. In Northern Germany, tradition promises good fortune to those who eat sausages and sauerkraut during Shrovetide. In Bohemia, Shrovetide is personified by a costumed figure in a masked procession; capturing a piece of straw from his hat and placing it under a hen is said to ensure a fruitful spring hatch. Across the Western Hemisphere, Shrove Tuesday is widely observed with the familiar pancake supper, celebrated in parish halls as a joyful final gathering before the fast of Lent.

Shrovetide also encourages Christians to reflect on what Lenten sacrifices they feel called to make. It is traditionally a final moment of merrymaking—echoed in Carnival and Fastelavn customs—before the sober work of penitence begins. Many communities carry Shrovetide rods or enjoy Shrovetide buns after church. On Shrove Tuesday, Christians of many traditions—Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and Roman Catholic—make a special effort toward self‑examination, considering sins needing repentance and areas of spiritual growth requiring God’s grace. Churches often collect the previous year’s blessed palm branches during Shrovetide; these are burned on Shrove Tuesday to create the ashes used for the next day’s Ash Wednesday liturgies.

As Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the church’s adornments become noticeably sparse: the altar, lectern, and pulpit are covered in minimal fabric. On Passion Sunday, all sacred images are veiled in purple, symbolizing humanity’s separation from God prior to the Cross. These veils turn to black on Good Friday.

Lent then unfolds through the great devotions and commemorations of the season:

• • Stations of the Cross, following Jesus along the path of His Passion
  • Maundy Thursday, recalling the Last Supper
  • Good Friday, a solemn remembrance of the Crucifixion
  • Tenebrae, the ancient Service of Shadows
  • And finally, the radiant Mass of the Resurrection on Easter morning.