This year, pancake day falls on the 4th of March.
Traditionally, Pancake Day, or what is often called Shrove Tuesday in the UK, is the day before Ash Wednesday and signals the start of Lent.
Typically, the word shrove means to confess all your sins and it is often known as pancake day as it was a great way to clear the cupboards before the fast of Lent by using up milk, butter and eggs which are not allowed during Lent.
We’ve all heard of the Mardi Gras carnival. That’s a Shrove Tuesday event, as is the well-known carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
The Christian season of Lent is to prepare for Easter. As a non religious family, it’s always surprising to me to find out the holidays and customs which so often seem tied in to historic Christian practice.
Lent begins around 40 days before Easter (not including Sundays)
During Lent, lots of Christians go through a period of fasting and repentance to have enough time to reflect on Jesus Christ, his suffering and the sacrifice he made.
Although not all Christians follow or stick to Lent, and it doesn’t seem to be mentioned in the bible, I do hear people giving up things for Lent. A tweeter gave up Twitter for Lent a couple of years ago which I found a little strange as i thought it was about repenting on sins, and I’ve not thought of Twitter as a sin.
Perhaps it’s very hypocritical of me to enjoy making pancakes for Pancake Day, but like Christmas, it has no religious meaning in our home, and is celebrated just for what it is. A day for making pancakes.
Whatever it means to you, have a lovely day and make lots of great pancakes.
[gmc_recipe 22548]
Susan says
March 3, 2014 at 2:10 pmI am a Catholic, and we do give up things for Lent, as we remember when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days without food. It’s not about giving up a sin, but giving up something (usually a vice or a favorite food). Lent is about conversion, turning our lives more completely over to Christ and his way of life. Leaving an old way, (the vice), and of living and acting in order to embrace new life in Christ. I hope that makes sense! 🙂 And I for one, am NOT giving up twitter for Lent. LOL It’s not a ‘vice for me. 😉
By the way, I am a new reader to your blog, and I am enjoying it very much. 🙂
Cheers!
Scottish Mum says
March 3, 2014 at 2:26 pmThe explanation about vice makes much more sense to me than a sin. Glad you’ll be sticking around on Twitter. What’s your Twitter ID? Nice to have you reading. 🙂
Susan says
March 3, 2014 at 2:40 pmLemonpoptart is my twitter id. 🙂 Ha! We’re already following each other! 😀
Kizzy says
March 3, 2014 at 1:28 pmHow bizarre giving up Twitter for Lent! Will be trying these out tomorrow as the kids don’t always like the thin crepe style ones!
Scottish Mum says
March 3, 2014 at 1:47 pmMy kids prefer the slightly thicker ones. They just can’t get over the really thin ones we had in England.
Susan says
March 3, 2014 at 2:14 pmMy family likes ours a little thicker too. I think they’re tasty with just butter, but am not above using syrup, or even some good jam, and best of all, some blueberries! Have you even put nuts in yours? We make pecan pancakes here and they are so good!
Scottish Mum says
March 3, 2014 at 2:24 pmWe tend to use mostly just butter. I kid myself that we can get away with some as I don’t use oil for cooking pancakes. I’ve not used nuts, but I did do some with Maltesers today that will hit the blog tomorrow.