It’s Shrove Tuesday – Pancake day.
Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day is the Tuesday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday and the commencement of Lent. This date is determined each year by the dates of Easter.
The expression “Shrove Tuesday” comes from the word meaning “absolve”.
Many people believe that they should give up their excesses and indulgences for Lent. Therefore Shrove Tuesday is the last day of indulgence prior to the forty days of the penitential time of Lent.
The term Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lent.
Like many European and UK holidays the Pancake day was originally a pagan celebration.
Before the Christian era, the Slavs believed that the change of seasons was a struggle between Jarilo, the god of vegetation (the Green Man), fertility and springtime, and the evil spirits of cold and darkness.
People believed that they had to help Jarilo fight the darkness and the winter cold and thereby bring in the spring time. The most important way for them to do this was by the making and eating pancakes at Shrovetide (a week- long celebration).
The hot pancakes symbolised the sun and its return.
