Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day)
Next: February 9, 2027
Flip a pancake before Lent.
The story
Where it comes from
Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, when the Christian season of Lent begins, and it always falls 47 days before Easter. Its name comes from 'shrive', to hear confession: people went to church to be shriven before the fast. For centuries many Christians gave up rich foods for Lent, so the last day was a chance to use up the eggs, butter and fat in the house. In England that meant pancakes, hence 'Pancake Day'. In France and many Catholic countries it is Mardi Gras, 'Fat Tuesday', the last day of Carnival.
How it's celebrated
In Britain and Ireland, families make and toss pancakes at home, and churches hold services before Lent begins. Towns hold pancake races, with runners tossing pancakes in frying pans as they go. Elsewhere the day ends weeks of Carnival with parades, music and feasting before Lent begins. Anyone can join in with a pan, some batter and a brave flip.
Did you know
- Tradition says the pancake race in Olney, Buckinghamshire, was first run in 1445, when a housewife heard the church bell and dashed off still holding her frying pan.
- Olney's race was revived in 1948 by the town's vicar, who found old photographs of women running with frying pans; thirteen runners turned up.
- Since 1950 the town of Liberal, Kansas, has raced against Olney over the same distance, and the two towns compare times.
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