Ash Wednesday, 18th February, sees the start of Lent this year. The name is derived from the Saxon word for Spring – lenct – which, in earlier times, may well have been a time of enforced fasting in the agricultural communities, as the winter stores ran low.
Nowadays, it is the 40-day annual fast between Ash Wednesday and the start of Easter, when Christians recall Christ’s sufferings in the wilderness.
Lent is preceded by Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day), once celebrated with merrymaking and feasting, when anything which would not last, or could be food which one might give up for one’s Lenten sacrifice, was feasted upon.
Interestingly the French term Mardi Gras, meaning Fat Tuesday, refers to this practice of a last night of indulging in richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting. Hence milk, butter, eggs, fat or lard would need to be used up before Lent – leading to the cooking of pancakes (dating back to the 16th century in Britain) and the practice of traditions such as pancake breakfasts, half day holidays, pancake tossing and pancake races.
Of all the Shrove Tuesday traditions we have come across, we’ve found the quirkiest to be London’s Westminster School’s Pancake Greaze. Held annually since circa 1753 in Up School (their School Hall), this involves the head cook tossing a pancake (nowadays reinforced with horsehair) over a 20-foot-high iron bar followed by a scramble of up to a minute by the students to see who can secure the largest portion by weight.
The winner is declared, awarded a prize of a gold sovereign, and the Dean of Westminster petitions for a half day off school – though the recent reports that we have read state that these last two actions no longer happen!
Take care and stay safe!
