Some folk may be aware that tomorrow marks Shrove Tuesday. This implies that today, a fact unknown to many, is Collop Monday, occurring two days before Ash Wednesday, which initiates the period of Lent1John Trotter Brockett. 1829. ‘A Glossary of North Country Words, in Use: With Their Etymology, and Affinity to Other Languages ; and Occasional Notices of Local Customs and Popular Superstitions–’, Google.com <https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=m-8IAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-m-8IAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1> [accessed 12 February 2024].
Traditionally on Collop Monday, people consume collops and eggs for breakfast. These collops typically consist of thick slices of pan-fried meat topped with a fried egg, commonly ham or bacon. Hmmm, sounds familiar. However, they are not the wafer-thin slices of bacon we are accustomed to today.
The fat leftover from cooking the collops would then traditionally be utilised in making the pancakes for Shrove Tuesday.
The term ‘collop‘ is derived from a Norse word meaning a “slice of meat.” Since meat consumption was prohibited during Lent, folk aimed to utilise it all before the Lenten period began. The phrase ‘Collop Monday’ is first documented in Yorkshire in 16132‘Search Words – Yorkshire Historical Dictionary’. 2024. York.ac.uk <https://yorkshiredictionary.york.ac.uk/words/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&any=collop> [accessed 12 February 2024].
There is a tale about an elderly Scottish woman who, upon being informed that a potential cook candidate was ‘an unco’ decent body,‘3A genuinely good person. exclaimed, ‘Dom her decency; can she cook collops?’4‘Collop Monday. | South Bank Express | Saturday 20 April 1929 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2024. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004627/19290420/089/0006> [accessed 12 February 2024]‌
In Cornwall, there is a more vegetarian option: pea soup, hence ‘Peasen Monday.‘ (Or Nickanan Night or Hall Monday).
Across on the Continent, this day is known as ‘Rosenmontag‘ (‘Rose Monday’) in Germany, and it is celebrated with parades as part of a two-day carnival preceding the commencement of Lenten austerity.
The accompanying photo is of White Hill, one of the sisters of the Cleveland Hills, although most folk probably known it better as Hasty Bank. I captured it during my leisurely walk over Urra Moor this morning on a much brighter day than yesterday.
- 1John Trotter Brockett. 1829. ‘A Glossary of North Country Words, in Use: With Their Etymology, and Affinity to Other Languages ; and Occasional Notices of Local Customs and Popular Superstitions–’, Google.com <https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=m-8IAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-m-8IAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1> [accessed 12 February 2024]
- 2‘Search Words – Yorkshire Historical Dictionary’. 2024. York.ac.uk <https://yorkshiredictionary.york.ac.uk/words/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&any=collop> [accessed 12 February 2024]
- 3A genuinely good person.
- 4‘Collop Monday. | South Bank Express | Saturday 20 April 1929 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2024. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004627/19290420/089/0006> [accessed 12 February 2024]
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