Living in the UK: Pancake Day!
These days, if you are reading the local newspapers, you might spot a mysterious trend on the rise: why are there so many “perfect pancake recipes”, pancake discounts (and sometimes even free pancakes) promoted by cafes and restaurants, and announcements about local pancake races, all happening sometime next week?
What is this sudden preoccupation with pancakes? Ta-da! Pancake Tuesday is coming!
Pancake Day (Pancake Tuesday), or, to go by its more traditional name, Shrove Tuesday, is a traditional day of confessing one’s sins and feasting which is observed 47 days before Easter Sunday. And in 2023 it will fall on 21st February. Since traditionally in the subsequent Lent period - beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending at the beginning of the Holy Week - Christians would fast and stop eating animal products, so everyone had to eat up all the eggs, milk products and meat in the household so that the food would not be wasted. And the quickest way to use up all the eggs, fats and the milk? In the UK, the traditional solution is to make mountains of pancakes, and then to eat them together.
Find a simple pancake recipe, as well as English words and worksheets about Pancake Day by the British Council!
While having a feast before the Lent period is not unique to Britain, the British people had developed their own traditions and celebrations throughout the ages: making and eating pancakes, and racing around flipping pancakes (“pancake races”).
Pancake Races
According to legend, the pancake race was originated in the town of Olney in Buckinghamshire in 1445, when a woman found out that she would be late to the church for her Shrove Tuesday confession while making pancakes, and so she ran to the church while flipping the pancake in her pan to avoid it getting burnt. To this date Olney organises annual pancake races in which competitors have to toss a pancake from a pan three times while racing to the church to mark this tradition.
This practice of racing while flipping pancakes spread across the UK. Nowadays, you can find many pancake races in different cities and towns on Pancake Tuesday, and very often for charitable causes. One of the most famous pancake races is the Rehab Parliamentary Pancake Race, in which Members of Parliament (MPs) from the House of Commons, the Lords and the Ladies from the House of Lords, and political correspondents from different media outlets will form relay teams to compete against other teams, and to raise money to support disabled and marginalised people across the UK.
When the MPs won the last Pancake Race in 2017.
What is better than having fun and supporting a good cause? Find out if your area is holding a pancake race this year, and go support your neighbours after a hearty pancake breakfast - or even take part in the race yourself!
