Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the day before the start of Lent (Σαρακοστή)* on Ash Wednesday. It always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year and falls between February 3 and March 9.
Why is it called Pancake Day?
Shrove Tuesday was named after the custom of Christians to be “shriven” before the start of Lent. In the United Kingdom, Ireland and parts of the Commonwealth, Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday, as it became a traditional custom to eat pancakes as a meal. It is also called Fat Tuesday (‘Mardi Gras’ is French) as it was the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before fasting of the Lenten season. The tradition dates back to 600 A.D., when all animal products, not just meat, were banned during Lent. Christians made pancakes on Fat Tuesday to use up their supply of butter, milk, and eggs before Lent.
Pancakes are thin, flat cakes, made of batter and fried in a frying pan. A traditional English pancake is very thin and is served immediately. Golden syrup or lemon juice and caster sugar are the usual toppings for pancakes.
The fun part of Shrove Tuesday celebrations includes pancake races! Large numbers of people, often in fancy dress, race down streets tossing pancakes. The object of the race is to get to the finishing line first, carrying at the same time a frying pan with a cooked pancake in it and flipping the pancake as you run! Other traditional activities are ‘Mob Football’ games in many towns throughout England, or skipping on one rope.
Pancake races
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- Group of women wearing aprons, running and tossing pancakes as they race down the street, Britain, Buckinghamshire, Olney (Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images)
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- Flapjack-flipping relay racers run through London on Pancake Day
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- Pupils Pancake race (Photo in Express.co.uk)
Mob Football
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- Mob football (Photo by Oli Scarff/AFP)
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- Ball is thrown into the ‘hug’ to start the annual Shrovetide football match in Ashbourne, Derbyshire (Photo by Darren Staples/Reuters)
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- Mob football (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty
Skipping the rope
Skipping rope (Photo by Miss Diane)
Find delicious recipes for the day here:
*Lent (Σαρακοστή) is a period of fasting for 40 days before Easter Sunday (in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert during which he endured temptation by Satan). Lent is mostly observed by the Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican denominations, and also by Roman Catholics. Eastern Orthodox churches observe Lent or Great Lent, during the 6 weeks or 40 days preceding Palm Sunday with fasting continuing during the Holy Week of Orthodox Easter.
