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Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash
Wednesday. Lent - the 40 days leading up to Easter - was traditionally a time of fasting and
on Shrove Tuesday, Anglo-Saxon Christians went to confession and were "shriven" (absolved
from their sins). A bell would be rung to call people to confession. This came to be called the
o'Pancake
Bell" and is still rung today.
Shrove Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to
year and falls between February 3 and March 9.In2Ql9 Shrove Tuesday will fall on March
5th.
A pancake is a thin, flat cake, 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 pancake has a very long history and featured in cookery books as far back as 1439. The
tradition of tossing or flipping them is almost as old: "And every man and maide doe take
their tume, And tosse their Pancakes up for feare they bume." (Pasquil's Palin, 1619).
The ingredients for pancakes can be seen to symbolise
ofyear:
Eggs
Flour
- Creation
-
The staff of life
Wholesomeness
-
Milk - Purity
Salt
In the UK, pancake races form an important part of the Shrove Tuesday..l.bruti*
opportunity for large numbers of people, often in fancy dress, to race down streets tossins
pancakes. The object of the race is to get to the finishing line first, carrying a frying putr
i'ittt
a cooked pancake in it and flipping the pancake as you run.
Each contestant has a frying pan containing a hot pancake. She must toss it three times during
the race. The first woman to complete the course and arrive at the church, serve her pancake
to the bellringer and be kissed by him, is the winner.
The most famous pancake race takes place at Olney in Buckinghamshire. According to
tradition, in 1445 a woman of Olney heard the shriving bell while she was making pancakes
and ran to the church in her apron, still clutching her frying pan. The Olney pancake race is
now world famous. Competitors have to be local housewives and they must wear an apron
and a hat or scarf.