Pancake Day - What is Shrove Tuesday? - How many will be eating those scrummy pancakes tonight?

It's that time again, "13th February "and with it comes one of my favorite times of the year Shrove Tuesday better known to many as PANCAKE DAY yum yum.

But before I get in to telling you my favorite toppings for my pancakes let me tell you about the day and why it is known as "Shrove" Tuesday.

Well it all corresponds to the Christian celebrations of Lent.

The definition of "Shrove" is the past tense of "shrive" which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as "presenting oneself to a priest for confession, penance, and absolution".

Tradionally this relates to the day that Christians confess their sins to the church in preperation for Lent.

That's all well and good but what actually is Lent I hear you ask?

According to the Church Of England "Lent is a Christian festival and the origins derive from people replicating the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus Christ over the 40-day journey he made through the desert."

Lent is practiced not only by Christians and other religious believers but by individuals who use Lent to test their willpower before the Easter celebrations (making way for lots of chocolate eggs maybe). Most common things for people to give up are sweet treats, chocolate and for some alcohol. That's a lot of goodness to give up for a whole 46days!!

So how does all this relate to why we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?

Apparently this all comes down to the fact that no matter what you enjoy to add to your pancakes the recipe to make them is always the same (well almost).

For those of you scratching your heads wondering about the recipe for pancakes it's a pretty simple one - Eggs, flour and milk (don't ask me how much of which or what order to add them in to the bowl, just chuck them in and I think you will end up with a pancake).

Historically those three key ingredients were once the trendy goods to give up for Lent, so it made sense to use them all up in one handy dish the day before Lent started.

Although seeing as to what many of us stick on top of our pancakes these days it's likely to be the latter that we should be fasting from.

Anyway, I will be stuffing my face full of pancakes tonight, will you? I'll be showing off to the kids as I flip my pancakes high in the air whilst ducking from the wife's back hand as she is screaming at me to clean up the multiple failed flip attempts that have ended up on the floor (and other kitchen areas).

Oh and I almost forgot, my favorite toppings for these delightful round batters of joy aren't actually that exotic. Just lemon Juice and sugar. Yup that's it.

Happy Shrove Tuesday to all out there on Steemit

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