Pancake Day!

Today is Pancake Day here in the UK so “tuck in” and enjoy a plate of pancakes however you fancy them: crepe or buttermilk style, although thinner is more traditional. Everyday is a good day for a pancake, however eating pancakes today has more meaning that you may have known…today is Shrove Tuesday.

Shrove Tuesday is always celebrated the day before Lent begins. Since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, Shrove Tuesday is today - 24 February. As Wikipedia explains, “The word shrove is the past tense of the English Verb shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Thus, Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving that English Christians were expected to do prior to receiving absolution immediately before lent begins.” As some of you may put together, today is also Fat Tuesday within the Mardi Gras celebrations.

So why pancakes? Shrove Tuesday originally began with eating pancakes because they included ingredients such as fat, butter, eggs and sugar, which were traditionally restricted during lent. A Scottish Shrovetide tradition, which appears to have gone by the wayside, was known as the “Festy Cock.” This is a ball of extra finely ground meal, wetted until it can be patted and rolled into a round shape, then roasted or baked in the hot ashes and burning seeds from a mill kiln. It was made to eat up the food items prior to fasting and substituted for cockerel. Festy indicates “Feast Day.”

Pancake Day, as most call it here, has been publicized throughout supermarkets and television programs. There are also organized events including a fundraiser, The UK Parliamentary Pancake Race, which has teams from the House of Commons, House of Lords and the Fourth Estate. The object of the race is to get to the finishing line first whilst flipping a pancake in a frying pan a pre-decided number of times. The skill lies not so much in the running of the race but in flipping and catching the pancake, which must still be intact at the finish line.

In the past, it was considered a “half day” from work and businesses would stop at 11:00a.m. with the signaling of the Church bells. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.

So today, enjoy your pancakes with whatever toppings you prefer. The most common toppings here are sugar and lemon or jelly. If you ask for syrup on your pancakes they may assume you are from Canada…since that is where maple syrup comes from!! Although not as traditional, we prefer a small spread of Nutella on ours.

Enjoy your pancakes!

Marin and Erik