DANVERS -- Enjoy a feast of endless pancakes and all the trimmings, as All Saints (formerly Calvary Danvers and Saint Paul's Peabody -- now merged)  hosts a Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras themed pre-Lent celebration complete with music, raffles, and kids' activities. 

The beloved tradition of St. Paul's Pancake and Sausage Supper takes place on Tuesday, February 12, from 5 to 7 p.m., in O'Neill Hall, at All Saints Episcopal Church of the Northshore, 46 Cherry Street, Danvers, across from Town Hall. 

Everyone is welcome! Admission is free, and free-will donations are appreciated. Donations go to Haven from Hunger, Peabody. Ample on-street free parking is available. 

For Christians, Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration, because it's the last day before Lent, traditionally a time of abstinence, a time of giving things up. In the old days, Lent required observant Christians not to eat certain foods such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods. 

In order not to waste that food, families would feast on the "shriving" Tuesday, and consume the food that wouldn't last the 40 days of Lent.The need to eat up fats gave rise to the French name Mardi Gras, meaning fat Tuesday.

Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday because preparing them used up all the eggs, fats and milk in the house with just the addition of flour. For  more information please call the All Saints Parish Office, at 978-774-1150.