Pancake Tuesday / Shrove Tuesday

Today is Pancake Tuesday or properly called  Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Recently, one of our ministers mentioned Pancake races. I had never heard of them before. So, it was interesting this morning as I am writing about Josiah and Sarah Dudley that I checked a reference and discovered that today in Alcester, where Josiah and Sarah lived during their early years of marriage, they are having a pancake race. This an old tradition in England going back to the 1400s.

This of course gets me to thinking did any of my English ancestors ever participate in pancake races as active participants or did they go and watch and cheer? According to the Redditch Advertiser website, Alcester has only been hosting this event for about a half century, so it would not be in that community if they ever were part of one of these races.

Growing up, we would often have pancakes for supper on Pancake Tuesday. Back in the 1980s, our youth church group hosted a pancake supper and my father pitched in to help in the kitchen. For quite a few years at Knox the Sunday School hosted a pancake brunch after church. I haven't decided yet whether pancakes will be on the menu for my supper today.

Will be pancakes be on your menu today?



© 2013 Janet Iles