WHY are "pancakes" eaten on Shrove Tuesday.???!
Although, like most Christian traditions, its probably stolen from paganism somewhere along the line...
Answers: To use up all the egss, sugar, butter etc before lent when you are supposed to abstain.
Although, like most Christian traditions, its probably stolen from paganism somewhere along the line...
who cares, they are yummy!
Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent. Lent is the time for unleaven bread. So Shrove Tuesday is the last day to eat something with leavening.
Its to use up all the eggs prior to the 40 days of lent, and thats also why you have eggs at Easter , although obviously this has morphed into chocolate eggs - originally it would be re-starting putting eggs in your diet.
Here is the interesting bit....
Like many religious traditions it started from a practical need. Hens are very fertile in the spring and we abstained from eatign thier eggs so that they would hatch and replenish the poultry stock. It was chosen as a christian abstainance process in the C15
Interesting eh ?
You tell me! I'm Catholic or at least born so and embarassingly enough I can't remember. By the way, I'm still so crap at this that after hibernating away from frustration at all things computer, I came back and managed to send someone else an answer to a question I thought you'd asked. I'll never get the hang of this!!!