Did you have Pancakes today?

[OlLiE]

by the way, are the pancakes commemorative?

or are they a result of the lobbying by the big pancake industry

is there a zucchini day,
i could go for lasagna day too

or even better:
this day is brought to you by "brand name"

governments could sell the branding rights to every day

 

[pjcnet]

by the way, are the pancakes commemorative?

or are they a result of the lobbying by the big pancake industry

is there a zucchini day,
i could go for lasagna day too

or even better:
this day is brought to you by "brand name"

governments could sell the branding rights to every day

Not really, although in more recent years pancake day has also been used a lot more for marketing purposes. Shrove Tuesday (AKA. Pancake Day) is part of the Christian calendar and marks the start of Lent when Christians traditionally fast, the day after Shrove Tuesday is actually called Ash Wednesday which is a Christian day of peace and also the 1st day of Lent. In short pancakes were seen as a perfect way to use up eggs, fats and other ingredients that would have otherwise gone to waste in order to have a feast before starting the Lenten fast.

There is a lot more, please take a look at the history:

http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pancake-Day/


PS: Lent is traditionally described as lasting for 40 days, in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert when he endured temptation by Satan before beginning his public ministry (according to the Bible, for more info please see Temptation of Christ), but did you know that Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday) which is actually 46 days, not 40? This is because there are 6 Sundays during Lent when fasting is not obligatory, take away 6 Sundays from 46 days and you are left with 40 days.

 

[Mr Allen]

by the way, are the pancakes commemorative?

or are they a result of the lobbying by the big pancake industry

is there a zucchini day,
i could go for lasagna day too

or even better:
this day is brought to you by "brand name"

governments could sell the branding rights to every day

Someone did not read the Wikipedia link I posted.

Which explains everything

 

[OlLiE]

aahhh, darned my short attention span

 

[OlLiE]

Not really, although in more recent years pancake day has also been used a lot more for marketing purposes. Shrove Tuesday (AKA. Pancake Day) is part of the Christian calendar and marks the start of Lent when Christians traditionally fast, the day after Shrove Tuesday is actually called Ash Wednesday which is a Christian day of peace and also the 1st day of Lent. In short pancakes were seen as a perfect way to use up eggs, fats and other ingredients that would have otherwise gone to waste in order to have a feast before starting the Lenten fast.

There is a lot more, please take a look at the history:

http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pancake-Day/


PS: Lent is traditionally described as lasting for 40 days, in commemoration of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert when he endured temptation by Satan before beginning his public ministry (according to the Bible, for more info please see Temptation of Christ), but did you know that Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday) which is actually 46 days, not 40? This is because there are 6 Sundays during Lent when fasting is not obligatory, take away 6 Sundays from 46 days and you are left with 40 days.

thank you
i never expected that, i live in a catholic country, went to a catholic school and university, i had never heard of starting lent (a period of fasting) with eating pancakes, it's kind of sounds like starting the first day of a diet with a junkfood and soft drink binge, no?

 

[OlLiE]

in some countries it even seems to denote the start of the carnival period, which clearly has nothing to do with religion, it looks like the pancake thing is mainly a uk thing.

 

[pjcnet]

thank you
i never expected that, i live in a catholic country, went to a catholic school and university, i had never heard of starting lent (a period of fasting) with eating pancakes, it's kind of sounds like starting the first day of a diet with a junkfood and soft drink binge, no?

Yes, historically Shrove Tuesday (AKA. Pancake Day) was like a last binge before a fast and it was also to use up ingredients that would have otherwise gone to waste. These days however the tradition of fasting has been somewhat lost, there are still some Christians who observe Lent and I even remember my late Nan and Grandad still observing it, but people usually only give up one particular luxury and this may not necessarily even be related to food or drink.

According to the UK tabloid newspaper The Sun, here are the top 10 things Christians gave up for Lent last year going from the most popular first:

Chocolate, Social Networking, Alcohol, Twitter, Facebook, School, Meat, Sweets, Coffee and Fizzy drinks.

Yes, it's strange that school is in the list and when Lent was first observed so many years ago, no-one could have possibly imagined people giving up social networking. Please click here for the full article.

PS: You can't always trust the accuracy of articles in UK tabloid newspapers.

 

[Aeolienne]

Yes I did.

 

[Progster]

No. I don't have to have a special day to eat pancakes.