Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake Day!

Shrove Tuesday widely known as "Pancake Day" is eagerly awaited and hungrily celebrated each year, offering an opportunity for a final blow-out before the abstinence of Lent. The date changes from year to year because Shrove Tuesday, the Christian observance on which Pancake Day falls, is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.

This year, Easter Sunday is on 9 April - eight days earlier than last year — with its position calculated based on the first full moon that follows the spring equinox in March.

This means Shrove Tuesday — Pancake Day falls on Tuesday 21 February.

Shrove Tuesday immediately precedes Ash Wednesday, which in turn heralds the start of Lent, the Christian season supposed to replicate the Biblical story of Jesus Christ's withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. This is why Lent is traditionally a period of abstinence, with many non-Christians still getting into the spirit of the season by giving up a particular treat.

With the bleak prospect of 40 days of discipline looming, it was perhaps inevitable that Shrove Tuesday would become an occasion to gorge oneself and cram in as much frivolity as possible.

In French, the date became known as "Mardi Gras", or "Fat Tuesday", for this reason, and the label has been adopted in other nations too, most notably the USA.

Other traditions have developed around Shrove Tuesday beyond excessive eating, such as the unruly, village-wide football games which date as far back the 17th century. Although 19th-century law changes made them less commonplace, matches such as Ashbourne's Royal Shrovetide Football still deliver mud, violence and general mayhem.

Why do we have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?

Lent, particularly when it was adhered to more widely and strictly, marked a time to eat simpler food, and give up things like sweet, rich and dairy ingredients. The day before the season started was therefore the ideal time to make pancakes as a means to use up leftover eggs, milk and sugar.

Pancake races supposedly originated back in 1445, when a woman in Buckinghamshire is said to have been caught out by the sound of church bells before she'd finished making a pancake. Her solution, the story goes, was to sprint from her home to her local church service still carrying her frying pan, flipping the pancake within to prevent it burning. Olney, the town where the tale is based, still holds a world-famous annual race, with contestants battling it out over a 415-yard course, traditionally wearing an apron in honour of pancake racing's founder.

A prayer for Shrove Tuesday

On this Shrove Tuesday, Lord help us to enjoy and give thanks to you for the bounty you provide for us and remind us to share your gifts with others. And as Lent begins tomorrow, prepare our hearts and minds to reflect upon the temptation of Jesus for 40 days and nights and what that means for us. Amen