Profs & Pints Baltimore: A Feast of Fat Tuesday Knowledge
Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “A Feast of Fat Tuesday Knowledge,” on the origins and evolution of a winter holiday, with K. Anne Amienne, former instructor of courses on Reformation and Renaissance popular culture at Duke University, founder and director of Scholars & Writers, and author of Eat Feed Autumn Winter: 30 Ways to Celebrate When the Mercury Drops.
Why do people party so hard on a Tuesday night halfway between Christmas and Easter?
Come to an ideal place to get answers—Section 771 bar and restaurant in Baltimore’s Camden Yards—and learn Fat Tuesday’s story.
We’ll start with the medieval origins of an observance that started out as Shrove Tuesday, a name derived from the medieval tradition of “shriving,” or confessing, one’s sins before the beginning of lent. You’ll learn how communities sought to celebrate the day with gusto for reasons related to both religious doctrine and agricultural necessity.
Dr. Armienne will discuss how the day turned into a Renaissance carnival of excess—and even violence—resembling the famously licentious, boozy affairs that are today’s Mardi Gras and Carnival in places like Rio and New Orleans.
The sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, which swept away many Catholic traditions, left this one intact but throughout Northern Europe transformed Fat Tuesday into a day of domestic celebration—often for children. We’ll look at how the British empire, no matter which faith ruled it, fueled its own growth by honoring the rhythm of feast and fast.
You’ll learn how in Iceland the medieval Catholic self-flagellation of Flengingardagur (Spanking Day) has become Bolludagur (Bun Day), during which sons and daughters “beat” their parents with magic wands to receive a cream bun for every blow. In Sweden, almost eight million semlor (cream buns) are sold in bakeries on Shrove Tuesday, while Denmark and Norway have similar pastries that remind us of the old medieval tradition of using up eggs, cream, and butter before the fast.
In tracing Fat Tuesday’s journey from medieval feasts to modern celebrations, Dr. Armienne will bring to life a story of ritual, misrule, and culinary transformation. You’ll leave knowing how to celebrate Fat Tuesday with a touch of British or Nordic tradition. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30).
