*Ø* Blogmanac February 23 | Collop Monday

Collop Monday, or Shrove Monday (moveable feast, February 23 in 2004) The day after Hall Sunday and the day before Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day). In olden times, Britishers cut their meat into collops, or steaks for salting or hanging up until Lent was over. It’s still a custom to have eggs and collops, or slices of bacon, today. In Salisbury, England: boys would sing:

Shrove-tide is nigh at hand,
And I am come a shroving;
Pray, dame, something,
An apple or a dumpling,
Or a piece of Truckle cheese
Of your own making,
Or a piece of pancake.

The medieval Roman writer, Polydore Virgil, explains how the feasts of Bacchus were celebrated in Rome at the same time of year. At Eton, on Shrove Monday it was a custom for boys to write verses concerning Bacchus, which were affixed to the college door.

After tomorrow, Shrove Tuesday, follows Lent, the forty days' fast preceding Easter.

This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.