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A Brief History of Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day)
Shrove Tuesday, the night before Ash Wednesday (when the season of Lent begins), is celebrated around the world in a variety of ways. Shrove is an old English word meaning "to confess" or "to repent." It is also known as Mardi Gras (literally, "fat Tuesday" in French), Carnival (from the Latin for "farewell to the flesh"), and Fasnacht (the Germanic "night of the fast").
As people prepared for this solemn season when they would eat fewer rich foods, refrain from parties, and spend more time in serious reflection, they found it necessary to clean out their cupboards and rid their kitchens of rich foods like butter, milk, and eggs. In many parts of the world, feasts were held to eat all these foods before Lent began, so the night of celebration became popular. Pancakes became a favourite food because they used up many of the forbidden ingredients.
For centuries, the English have celebrated Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent, with merriment and antics and, especially, great quantities of pancakes. In fact, the fried flat cakes became so important to the holiday that is has also been called Pancake Day, or Pancake Tuesday.
The rich Shrovetide pancakes were eaten as a ritual or symbol of self-indulgence before the fast. Early English recipes called for wheaten flour, eggs, butter or lard, a liquid (water, milk, ale or wine) and flavourings such as white or brown sugar, spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, or ginger), orange flower water, scented sugars or liqueurs.The pancakes were fried in butter or fat and served flat or rolled and sprinkled with powdered sugar, topped with preserves or doused with alcohol.
Even the church bells that rang early on Shrove Tuesday morning summoning everyone to confession and to be "shriven" became known as Pancake Bells. They also reminded all to use up the "forbidden foods" before Lent. An old London rhyme went "Pancakes and fritters, say the bells on St. Peter's."