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PANCAKE DAY
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 “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.
In 2010 Shrove Tuesday will fall on the 16th February.
Shrove Tuesday was the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before
embarking on the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of
using up these ingredients. 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 turne, And tosse their Pancakes up for
feare they burne." (Pasquil's Palin, 1619).
 The
ingredients for pancakes can be seen to symbolise four points of
significance at this time of year:
Eggs ~ Creation
Flour ~ The staff of life
Salt ~ Wholesomeness
Milk ~ Purity
To
make 8 or so pancakes you will need 8oz plain flour, 2 large eggs, 1
pint milk, salt.
Mix all together and whisk well.
Leave to stand for 30 minutes. Heat a little oil in a frying pan,
pour in enough batter to cover the base of the pan and let it cook
until the base of the pancake has browned. Then shake the pan to
loosen the pancake and flip the pancake over to brown the other
side.
In the UK, pancake races form an
important part of the Shrove Tuesday celebrations - an opportunity
for large numbers of people, often in fancy dress, to race down streets tossing
pancakes. The object of the race is to
get to the finishing line first, carrying a frying pan with a cooked
pancake in it and flipping the pancake as you run.
Great Spitalfields
Pancake Race, Brick Lane, London
http://www.alternativearts.co.uk/events/pancake/
The most famous pancake race
takes place at Olney. 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.
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.
At Westminster School in London, the
annual Pancake Grease is held. A verger from Westminster Abbey leads
a procession of boys into the playground where the school cook
tosses a huge pancake over a five-metre high bar. The boys then race
to grab a portion of the pancake and the one who ends up with the
largest piece receives a cash bonus from the Dean.
In Scarborough on Shrove
Tuesday, everyone assembles on the promenade to skip. Long ropes are
stretched across the road and there maybe be ten or more people
skipping on one rope. The origins of this custom is not known but
skipping was once a magical game, associated with the sowing and
spouting of seeds which may have been played on barrows (burial
mounds) during the Middle Ages.
Many towns throughout England
used to hold traditional
Shrove Tuesday football ('Mob Football') games dating back as far back as
the 12th century. The practice mostly died out with the passing of
the 1835 Highways Act which banned the playing of football on
public highways, but a number of towns have managed to maintain the
tradition to the present day including Alnwick in Northumberland,
Ashbourne in Derbyshire (called the Royal Shrovetide Football
Match), Atherstone in Warwickshire, Sedgefield (called the Ball Game) in
County Durham, and St Columb Major (called Hurling the Silver Ball)
in Cornwall.
Useful links:
Folklore
Events in February (including Shrove Tuesday)
Folklore
Destinations
Great Spitalfields
Pancake Race, Brick Lane, London - 16th February 2010, heats
start at 12.30pm. Dray Walk, Old Truman Brewery, E1 6QL.
©
HUK.
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