58 Shrove Tuesday

Most people will know this day to be Pancake Day not, Shrove Tuesday as commercially it is advertised as Pancake Day. When I was younger I always knew this day because my mum would buy pancakes and my Grandparents would get bulk amounts of the ingredients used for making homemade pancakes.

I have unfortunately had a bad experience with this day as when I was younger I was cooking a homemade pancake with my Grandma, I tried to flip the pancake and it landed on my hand instead of in the pan. Oops. Everyone please be careful and learn from my mistakes. If this does happen to you, drop the pan and the pancake, and get to a tap with cold water, leaving the affected area under cold water for as long as you can bear.

Shrove Tuesday is actually a religious holiday recognized by Christians. It falls on the 7th week before Easter. This is because it is the day before lent so people can fill up on Pancakes ready to give up something for 40 days leading up to Easter. This year’s date falls on the 17th of March.

As Shrove, Tuesday is a day of feasting a long time ago when buying food and cooking food was a little more complicated than today it’s known the ingredients for pancakes were easy to get hold of and not too complicated to cook. Therefore, pancakes were chosen followed by this holiday being given a nickname.

This Holiday is recognized worldwide and is celebrated in different ways, most often the bulk consumption of pancakes for breakfast or dessert. In some countries, they hold pancake races.

In England, a common way to celebrate was to have a football game which began way back in the 12th century but later died out in the 19th century when the Highway Act 1835 banned football from being played on public highways.

Shrove Tuesday was formally known as a half-holiday which started at 11 am when the church bells rang. This was often when pancake races and football matches began. Pancake races are still held in England to this present day. Granted I have not heard of pancake races before, which obviously means I haven’t taken place in one. Let me know if you have had the honour of performing a pancake race.