Shrove Tuesday, which this year occurs on Tuesday March 5, marks an important point in the Christian calendar. Although it is celebrated in many different ways throughout the world, for many Christians, Shrove Tuesday involves feasting on pancakes and, in fact, many people also refer to it as Pancake Tuesday. This because it occurs right before Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent, traditionally a period of fasting for Christians.
Before the fasting, people would therefore use up whatever staple foods they had left in their larder such as flour, sugar, eggs and milk. These ingredients to make pancakes, and it’s a tradition which has survived to this day.
Here are some fun Pancake Day facts to get you in the mood:
1. Pancake Day depends on when Easter occurs and so is a moveable feast. It can fall anywhere between February 3 and March 9.
2. Many towns in England conduct pancake races on Pancake Day. This involves running for about a quarter of a mile with a frying pan and tossing the pancake in it. It is believed the first Shrove Tuesday pancake race took place in Buckinghamshire in 1445.
3. Not all countries traditionally eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. They eat meat which has been preserved in salt in Iceland while in Finland they eat pastries and pea soup. Polish people eat a traditional pasty called paczki while in Lithuania they also eat donuts on Pancake Day.
4. American pancake chain IHOP give away free pancakes on Pancake Day to raise money for charity.
For more facts about customs and traditions check out the books at www.mediahitt.com.
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