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Pancake Tuesday

What is Pancake Tuesday?

Pancake Tuesday (also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the day before the start of Lent, followed by Ash Wednesday. In the Catholic tradition, Lent is a 40-day period of fasting in preparation for Easter Sunday. During Lent, most Catholics aged 14 and up avoid eating meat on all Fridays, as a sign of devotion and commemoration of Jesus’ death.

Where does the name come from?

In the past, eggs, butter, and milk were forbidden during Lent, hence, people used to eat them on the day before Ash Wednesday, which was considered the last feasting day. Nowadays, in Ireland and the UK, people eat pancakes, whose main ingredients are precisely eggs, butter, and milk. Furthermore, the traditional way of eating pancakes is with lemon juice and sugar.

If you want to test your culinary skills, try to bake Irish pancakes following the recipe at the link:

https://www.retrobite.com/traditional-irish-pancakes/

 

 

Check our previous blog post:

Saint Brigid’s Day – A New Bank Holiday

 

References and useful Links:

Britannica (2023) Lent [Online]. Available at https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lent (Accessed Feb. 21, 2023).

Castlelow, E. (2023) ‘Pancake Day’, Historic UK [Online]. Available at https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pancake-Day/ (Accessed Feb. 21, 2023).

Gilligan, M. (2021) ‘How to make pancakes like the Irish for Shrove Tuesday’, Irish Central [Online]. Available at https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/food-drink/pancake-tuesday-irish (Accessed Feb. 21, 2023).

Good Food Ireland (2021) A Briefly Delicious History of Pancake Tuesday [Online]. Available at https://goodfoodireland.ie/blog/a-briefly-delicious-history-of-pancake-tuesday/ (Accessed Feb. 21, 2023).