We're on the home straight before the rigours of Lent begin. Hopefully we've all decided on our penances, our prayers and our almsgiving for the Lenten season. If not, now is the last chance.
Tuesday is not "pancake" day - it's Shrove Tuesday. To be shriven is to be absolved from your sins. Shrove Tuesday is thus named because it was traditionally the day people went to Confession before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. The emphasis was on preparing for Lent, not just seeing Lent as preparation for Easter (though obviously it is that too!) But Ash Wednesday should not catch us unawares...
In modern Portuguese the words for fortieth, fiftieth, sixtieth are quadragesimo, quinquagesimo and sexagesimo. I am always trying to find opportunities to use them as they evoke such good memories but it is not often one has the chance e.g. "E a quinquagesima ovelha esta manha" - "That's the fiftieth sheep this morning".
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