Why is shrove tuesday in march this year

The pancake has a very long history and featured in cookery books as far back as 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.

The most famous pancake race takes place at Olney in Buckinghamshire. According to tradition, in 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. In others, especially those including Louisiana where it is called Mardi Gras or some translation thereof, this is a carnival day, and also the last day of fat eating or gorging before the fasting period of Lent. This moveable festival is determined by Easter. The expression Shrove Tuesday comes from the word shrive, meaning absolve.

This is why Lent is traditionally a period of abstinence, with many non-Christians still getting into the spirit of the season by giving up a particular treat. When is Easter ? With the bleak prospect of 40 days of discipline looming, it was perhaps inevitable that Shrove Tuesday would become an occasion to gorge oneself and cram in as much frivolity as possible.

Other traditions have developed around Shrove Tuesday beyond excessive eating, such as the unruly, village-wide football games in the UK which date as far back the 17th century. Lent, particularly when it was adhered to more widely and strictly, marked a time to eat simpler food, and give up things like sweet, rich and dairy ingredients.

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