Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is an ancient religious festival day which dates back to the early Christian times. It is the day before Ash Wednesday, which itself is the start of Lent.
Lent is a time of self discipline and denial. Throughout the 40 days of Lent it is traditional for people to fast and pray, however the week preceding Lent has become a time of celebration focusing on Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday as it was once known.
The name "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the custom of ringing the “shriving bell” to summon the people to church to be “shriven"; that is, to confess their sins at the beginning of Lent.
At this time, certain foods are given up for the duration of Lent, such as eggs, milk, meat, and rich buttery dishes. On Shrove Tuesday, families would eat all the rich foods left in their pantries. One way they use up the eggs, milk and fats in the house is to add flour to make special pancakes. In England, the popularity of cooking pancakes on this day caused Shrove Tuesday to be called Pancake Day.
The making and eating of pancakes has always been much the same. And so it’s not too surprising that two events, pancakes and festivals, are often linked together.Maybe the best known one is Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day which heralds the beginning of fasting in Lent. On this day, so historians say, there were feasts of pancakes to use up the stocks of flour, butter and eggs - foods which were forbidden during Lent.
In England there are several celebrations on this day but perhaps the best known one is the Pancake Day Race at Olney in Buckinghamshire which has been held since 1445. The race came about when a woman cooking pancakes heard the bell summoning her to confession. She ran to church wearing her apron and still holding her frying pan, and thus without knowing it, started a tradition that has lasted for over five hundred years. According to the old rules, only women wearing a dress (no slacks or jeans), an apron and a hat or scarf, may take part in the race.The traditional race has each contestant with a frying pan containing a pancake. She must toss it three times during the race which starts at the market square at 11.55 am. The first woman to complete the winding 375 metre course and arrive at the church is the winner. In 1950 the race became an international event when a challenge was received from Liberal, Kansas, USA.
Large or small, fat or wafer thin and made with a wide range of flours, pancakes are given different names by different people. There are Hungarian palesinta, Chinese egg rolls, Jewish blintzes, Russian blini, Italian cannelloni, Swedish plattar, Mexican tortillas, American hotcakes, German pfannkucken, Norwegian lefser, Austrian nockerlin, Welsh crempog and Australian pikelets; but undoubtedly the most famous of them all is the great French crepe.

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