Millions of people in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and beyond are today enjoying pancakes, because it is Pancake Day. Formally Shrove Tuesday, a tradition rooted in centuries of religious practice and culinary custom preceding Ash Wednesday, it's now mostly about the pancakes.
Of the many cultural artifacts and works of art celebrating and depicting the traditions (among them Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Fight Between Carnival and Lent and Igor Stravinsky's ballet Petrushka) the most important and significant is the third episode of the BBC childrens' television show Maid Marian and her Merry Men, in which the merry man Barrington, portrayed by Danny John Jules, sings a song celebrating the day.
Why pancakes? Lent calls for abstention from rich foods, and pancakes are a simple way to use up eggs, butter, and milk. The term "shrove" derives from the Old English word "shrive," meaning to hear confession and grant absolution. Among the goings on, at least in the England of my youth, were Pancake races.
Americans are no strangers to pancakes, of course, or pancake day itself. A traditional flapjack sprint is held in Liberal, Kansas, where locals take on invaders from the traditional English pancake stronghold of Olney.
Wikipedia describes Pancake Day as "one of the few food-centered observances with a direct liturgical origin still widely practiced in secular settings," something to think of while you devour the pancakes you are about to make.
Previously:
• IHOP server fired after 13 years service for buying pancakes for hungry person
• Here's a simple recipe for making Japanese style fluffy pancakes
• I am enjoying Birch Bender's Keto Pancake Mix & Maple Syrup
