Shrove Tuesday

[SHROVE(TIDE) + TUESDAY.]

The day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent in the Christian churches of the West, is known in English as Shrove Tuesday. It occurs between 2 February and 9 March, depending on the date of Easter. The day takes its name from "shriving"—the pre-Lenten confession and absolution of the faithful as a preparation for Lent that was common in the European Middle Ages. Feasting on foods initially prohibited during Lent, such as meat, eggs, and milk products, was integral to Shrove Tuesday observance. The German term Fastnacht and the Dutch Vastenavond (eve of the fast) refer to the Lenten fast about to begin, while the French mardi gras, the Italian martedì grasso, and the Portuguese terça-feira gorda, all meaning "Fat Tuesday," refer to the feasting on foods rich in fat prior to the austerity of Lent. The Spanish term martes de carnaval (Carnival Tuesday) possibly reflects the formerly rigorous Lenten abstinence from meat commencing on Ash Wednesday and lasting through the forty days of Lent. The word "carnival" is thought to derive from Medieval Latin carnem levare, which means 'to take away or remove meat'.

The historical origin of carnival celebrations is obscure. The word "Lent" derived from Anglo-Saxon lencten, denoting the spring season. It may be, therefore, that carnival had its roots in an ancient spring festival or pagan agricultural rite marking the transition between winter and summer. Aspects of such ancient festivals are thought to be reflected in modern carnival celebrations connecting the change in nature with social and biological renewal. Thus, temporary social transformation, masking, processions, erotic dances, eating, and drinking still characterize carnival celebrations in much of Europe. The ludic element—the public, communal revelry—remains in the fore in carnival celebrations in the United States, especially in the New Orleans Mardi Gras, and in Brazil in the famous Rio de Janeiro Carnival.

In Britain this three-day period of ludic license was called Shrovetide. Various sports were common, especially games of football. One form of cruel sport prevalent at Shrovetide was pelting cocks and wagering, and this was still practiced in areas of English settlement in Ireland in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Shrovetide was also a period of dietary license, and foods forbidden in Lent were consumed in abundance. Eggs and milk were at one time forbidden in Lent and therefore any supplies had to be used up before Ash Wednesday. On Shrove Monday, in parts of England, meat and eggs were eaten, or gifts of pancakes, flour, eggs, or money to provide Shrove Tuesday fare were collected by children or adults, who often recited a "shroving" verse. Refusal to contribute could result in shard-or stone-throwing, or loud knocking with clubs on doors.

Shrove Tuesday was also known as "Pancake Day" in England. After the Reformation, the Shriving Bell, which had hitherto called parishioners to be shriven, signaled the commencement of revelry and pancake-making. In parts of Wales children formerly collected pancake ingredients, while in the Isle of Man, pancake-making has apparently replaced the older custom of serving oatmeal and gravy for midday dinner and meat and pancakes in the evening.

In Scotland, beef was eaten on Shrove Tuesday (also called "Fastern's E'en") to ensure household prosperity. Oatmeal bannocks enriched with eggs and milk were baked, and, together with the beef broth, were used in marriage divination by the inclusion of a ring to betoken marriage, or other items to indicate the rank or occupation of the future marriage partner. The identity of the beloved might be revealed in dreams induced by placing a bannock under the pillow.

In Ireland, Shrove Tuesday (i.e., pre-Lenten) weddings were formerly popular, a custom seemingly connected to the canonical prohibition on the solemn celebration of the sacrament of matrimony during Lent, and pranks might be played on those still unwed at that time. Shrove Tuesday was especially a household festival, when "nobody should be without meat" (Danaher, p. 42). Pancakes—often including a ring to signify early marriage—were eaten, and pancake-tossing as a form of marriage divination was still practiced in the nineteenth century in areas of strong English settlement in Ireland from late medieval times.

Relaxation of the austere Lenten regulations meant that it was unnecessary to use up supplies of milk, eggs, and butter on the eve of Lent. Yet pancakes retain their festive connection to Shrove Tuesday. Homemade or commercially produced pancakes remain popular on Shrove or "Pancake" Tuesday in Great Britain. The traditional pancake greaze at Westminster School in London still takes place on Shrove Tuesday: the cook tries to toss a pancake over the pancake bar, and the boy who succeeds in getting the most cake in the ensuing "greaze" or scrimmage is declared the winner.

In Ireland also, pancakes sprinkled with castor sugar and served with a slice of lemon are much enjoyed as a Shrove Tuesday treat and are also a treat, though increasingly with multicultural dimensions, in British and Irish communities in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

In many parts of Europe, a variety of pastries rich in milk, butter, and eggs and cooked in hot fat are eaten during carnival celebrations. In Slovenian and Croatian Istria, for example, they are termed fritoli and kroötule, while in Sardinia, these doughnut-like pastries are called zeppole. They are similar in texture to the small rectangular pastry called Funkenküchle, popular during carnival festivities in western Austria, parts of South Tyrol, several areas in Switzerland, and certain regions of southern and western Germany. This latter pastry is made of flour, salt, sugar, and cream, cooked in hot fat, and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. It is eaten around a large fire lit on the first Sunday of Lent (alte Fastnacht, old eve of fast) since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582. Fastnachtkuchen are still popular among the Pennsylvania Dutch. These were originally rectangular or diamond-shaped, but today many are made round like doughnuts.

Carnival

As a point of closure for Christmas and Twelfth Night abundance, and a ritual sending off of the old year, Carnival evolved into a late-winter feast day of special importance to the Roman Catholic world.

The underlying theme to Mardi Gras or Carnival is that the days immediately preceding Lent were traditionally set aside for conspicuous feasting. In a medieval context, conspicuous consumption was a show of wealth, since it signaled that the lean days of winter to come were not an inconvenience imposed by financial or by religious considerations.

Since animal flesh was forbidden during the strict fast days of Lent, Shrovetide also became a period when weddings were once popular. This interesting fact is substantiated by medieval wedding records and makes economic sense, if we consider that June (a popular wedding month today) fell in the middle of harvest or planting according to the old calendar. This calendrical sensitivity placed the birth of the child in November, when there was nothing left to do in the fields. Thus Carnival also had an important influence on very basic human lifecycles far and beyond the actual month of celebration. It was also a time of general revelry in village and city alike, with processions of elaborately costumed and masked figures, dancers, and noise makers. It was in essence, a "feast of fools," a time when the usual rules of everyday behavior could be relaxed, even to the extent that such tabooed behavior as cross-dressing could make its appearance in parades with general approval.

European scholarship has meticulously analyzed the masking and de-masking of participants in the traditional Mardi Gras Carnival. On the one side there is a definite affinity to masks representing demons and animals, totemism disguising the living from the spirits of the dead, who were thought to be abroad on this eve of Lenten austerities. On the other hand, the serving of nourishing, satisfying fat foods at Shrovetide expresses the basic idea in European folk culture that one should, in Harvey Cox's words in The Feast of Fools, indulge in conscious excess. In some European regions it was customary to eat seven or even nine different kinds of food on Shrove Tuesday. These included butter and milk, roast pork, fish, peas, and millet. Feasting was sometimes interrupted by "wise" individuals, as evidence of aiding fertility. Fish were folkloric prognosticators of wealth to come—so many scales or eggs, so much the profit. The same benefit was claimed for millet—the more tiny millet grains eaten on Shrove Tuesday, the more coins one could hope for in the future.

The pre-Lenten feasting was thought to betoken an abundant harvest in the coming summer. Because Shrovetide cakes were products of a church festival, they acquired virtues beyond the nutritional. Crumbs were fed to the chicken on Shrove Tuesday so that they would produce more eggs and be protected from predators. Leftovers were also scattered for the angels, foxes, hawks, and martens, undoubtedly with mixed messages to the recipients to ward off danger. Even the Shrovetide lard was used in folk medicine as a wound salve, and ploughshares and wagons were symbolically greased with it before they were first used in the spring farm work.

However, one of the greatest legacies of Shrove Tuesday is the urban carnival which took place in large cities like Rome, Paris, Cologne, Munich, and Basel. They assumed the form of huge processions, with rites of crowning a prince and princess (or king and queen). Similar feast day parades are found throughout the Americas, but especially in Mexico and South America. The most famous of these is the great Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, an event for which the city prepares throughout the entire year. Much older Carnival traditions can be found in the mountain villages of the Black Forest and in the Austrian Tyrol, where carvers of wooden masks are still working a traditional art form that predates Christianity.

At the time of the Reformation, Protestant countries for the most part gave up traditional Carnival rites connected with the official ecclesiastical celebration. Mumming and masking were in particular dropped, or shifted to Christmas, New Year's Day, and Twelfth Night (Epiphany). This residual mumming was once popular in colonial North America, and survives today as the New Year's Day Mummers Parade in Philadelphia.

Don Yoder

Bibliography

Atzori, Mario, Luisa Orrú, Paolo Piquereddu, and M. Margherita Satta, eds. Il Carnevale in Sardegna. Cagliari, Sardinia: 2d Editrice Mediterranea, 1989.

Bahktin, Mikhail. Rabelais and His World. Translated by Helene Iswolsky. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1968.

Banks, M. Macleod. "Shrove Tuesday." In British Calendar Customs. Scotland, vol. 1, pp. 2–29. London: William Glaisher for The Folklore Society, 1937.

Beitl, Richard. Wörterbuch der Deutschen Volkskunde. Zweite Auflage. Stuttgart: Alfred Kroner Verlag, 1955.

Biluš, Ivanka, Brkan, B., Ćorić, Rodè, C. Croatia at Table: The Aromas and Tastes of Croatian Cuisine. Zagreb: Alfa, 1977.

Cox, Harvey. The Feast of Fools: A Theological Essay on Festivity and Fantasy. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.

Danaher, Kevin. The Year in Ireland. Cork, Ireland: The Mercier Press, 1977.

Drewes, Maria. Tiroler Küche. Innsbruck-Wien: Tyrolia-Verlag, 2000.

Eco, Umberto, V. V. Ivanov, and Monica Rector. Carnival! Edited by Thomas A. Sebeok with Marcia E. Erickson. Berlin, New York, and Amsterdam: Mouton, 1984.

Gaignebet, Claude. Le carnaval. Paris: Payot, 1974.

Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Deutsches Wörterbuch. Dritter Band. Leipzig: Verlag von S. Hirzel, 1862, pp. 1354–1355.

Jones, T. Gwynn. Welsh Folklore and Folk Custom. London: Methuen, 1930.

Kinser, Samuel. "Carnival." In Medieval Folklore. An Encyclopedia of Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs and Customs, edited by Carl Lindahl, John McNamara, John Lidnow, vol. 1, pp. 134–139. Santa Barbara, Ca.: ABC-Clio, 2000.

LaFlaur, Mark. "Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday)." In Festivals and Holidays, pp. 210–217. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1999.

Livingstone, E. A., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.

McNeill, F. Marian. "Fastern's E'en." In The Silver Bough: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals, vol. 2, pp. 39–45. Glasgow: William MacLellan, 1959.

Pucer, Tina Novak. "Food Culture in Istria." In Food and Celebration: From Fasting to Feasting, edited by Patricia Lysaght, pp. 45–52. Ljubljana: Založba, 2002.

Shoemaker, Alfred L. Eastertide in Pennsylvania: A Folk-Cultural Study. Foreword by Don Yoder. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2000.

Wright, A. R. "Movable Festivals." In British Calendar Customs. England, edited by T. E. Lones, vol. 1, pp. 1–31. London: William Glaisher for the Folklore Society, 1936.

—Patricia Lysaght

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: the last day before Lent
  Synonyms: Mardi Gras, pancake day

Shrove Tuesday is a term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada^[1], New Zealand, and Australia^[2] for the day preceding Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Christian season of fasting and prayer called Lent.

The word shrove is the past tense of the English verb shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of Confession and doing penance. Thus Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the shriving that English Christians were expected to do prior to receiving absolution immediately before Lent begins. Shrove Tuesday is the last day of "shrovetide", a season that developed after the Protestant Reformation, somewhat analogous to the Carnival tradition that continued separately in Catholic countries of Latin Europe. The term "Shrove Tuesday" is no longer widely known in the United States outside of people who observe liturgical traditions such as those of the Lutheran, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic Churches. ^[3][4] Because of the increase in many immigrant populations and traditions since the 19th century, and the rise of highly publicized festivals, Mardi Gras has become more familiar as the designation for that day.

In England and many other countries, the festival was widely associated with the eating of rich foods made with eggs, sugar and butter, such as pancakes. It was often known simply as Pancake Day, originally because making such foods used up ingredients such as fat and eggs, whose consumption was traditionally restricted during fasting associated with Lent.

Contents 1 Terminologies 1.1 Fat Tuesday 1.2 Fat Thursday 2 Traditions 3 Pancake Day 3.1 The Pancake Greaze 4 Dates 5 See also 6 Footnotes 7 External links

Terminologies

Fat Tuesday

In countries of the Carnival tradition, the day before Ash Wednesday is known either as Fat Tuesday (Portuguese, Terça-feira Gorda; French, Mardi Gras; Italian, Martedì Grasso; Swedish, Fettisdagen; Norwegian, Fastelavens; Estonian, Vastlapäev), or the "Tuesday of Carnival" (Spanish, Martes de Carnaval; Portuguese, Terça-feira de Carnaval; German, Faschingsdienstag). This is in reference to eating special foods before the fasting season of Lent.

For German American populations, such as Pennsylvania Dutch Country, it is known as Fastnacht Day (also spelled Fasnacht, Fausnacht, Fauschnaut, or Fosnacht). The Fastnacht is made from fried potato dough and served with dark corn syrup. In John Updike's novel Rabbit, Run, the main character remembers a Fosnacht Day tradition where the last person to rise would be teased by the other family members and called a "Fosnacht."

In Hawaii, this day is also known as Malasada Day, which dates back to the days of the sugar plantations of the 1800s. The occupying Portuguese used up their butter and sugar prior to Lent by making large batches of malasada (doughnuts).

In Iceland the day is known as Sprengidagur ("Bursting Day") and is marked by the eating of salt meat and peas.

In Lithuania the day is called Užgavėnės. People eat pancakes (blynai) and Lithuanian-style doughnuts called spurgos.

In heavily Polish areas of the United States, such as Chicago and the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck, Pączki Day is celebrated with pączki eating contests, music and Polish food.

Semla.

In Sweden, the day is marked by eating a traditional pastry, called semla or fastlagsbulle, a sweet bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream. Originally, the pastry was only eaten on this day sometimes served in a bowl of hot milk. Eventually the tradition evolved to eat the bun on every Tuesday leading up to Easter, as after the Reformation, the Protestant Swedes no longer observed a strict Lent. Today, semlas are available in shops and bakeries every day from shortly after Christmas until Easter. The semla is now often eaten as a regular pastry, without the hot milk. The semla is also traditional in Finland but they are usually filled with jam instead of almond paste.

Fat Thursday

In Poland and areas with large Polish American, Christian populations (such as Chicago), it is known as Tłusty Czwartek (literally: Fat Thursday) and celebrated on the Thursday before Lent.

In Poland, pączki and faworki are traditionally eaten on Fat Thursday (Polish: Tłusty czwartek), i.e. the one before Shrove Tuesday. However, in areas of Detroit, Michigan with large Polish communities, they are eaten on "Fat Tuesday" due to French influence. Shrove Tuesday itself is sometimes referred to as "śledzik" ("little herring") and it is customary to have some pickled herring with vodka (Polish: wódka) that day. Moreover in western Poland (Posen/Poznan area) both Fat Thursday and Shrove Tuesday known as 'Podkoziolek' are celebrated.

Traditions

Pancakes with strawberry syrup and blackcurrants.

Among Anglicans, Lutherans and some other Protestant denominations, and among cultures in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, this day is also known as Pancake Tuesday, as it is customary to eat pancakes on this day.^[5][6][7]

Pancakes and doughnuts are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure: In many cultures, this means no meat, dairy, or eggs.

Another holiday associated with pancakes (or in this case crêpes) is a French and Belgian festival called Chandeleur. Held on February 2 each year, this holiday is associated with the presentation of Jesus Christ in the temple. The name is derived from the word chandelle or candle, as candles are lit for this holiday. The French may also eat crêpes for mi-Careme and Mardi Gras. Similar to Chandeleur is Candlemas, which is celebrated by Anglican communities.

Another traditional food for this season is a sweet fried dumpling called cenci, usually served in the shape of a loose knot (a 5 cm wide, 20 cm long strip of dough one extremity of which is passed through a slit in the middle). In New Orleans and French-speaking communities, another traditional food is king cake. Traditionally the community king for Mardi Gras was found by the man who ate a bean baked in the cake.

A Festy cock is a Scottish dish made of a ball of finely ground meal, wetted until patted and rolled into a pancake shape, then roasted in the hot ashes from a mill kiln. This was a dish to be eaten at Shrovetide.^[8]

In Estonia (Vastlapäev) and Finland (Laskiainen), this day is associated with hopes for the coming year. On this day, families go sledding and eat split pea and ham soup. A toy is made from the ham bone by tying the bone to a string and spinning it around to make a whistling noise. Finns also share the tradition of the marzipan and cream filled pastry with Swedes, although often the marzipan is replaced with strawberry jam. Finnish name for it is laskiaispulla. It is most often accompanied with hot red or black currant drink or sometimes, for adults, glögi - a heated mulled wine. In Germany, Austria and Slovenia people traditionally eat rich pastries such as Berliner, krapfen or krof.

Many towns throughout England held traditional Shrove Tuesday football ('Mob football') games dating as far back as the 12th century. The practice mostly died out with the passing of the Highway Act 1835, which banned the playing of football on public highways. A number of towns have managed to maintain the tradition to the present day including Alnwick in Northumberland, Ashbourne in Derbyshire (called the Royal Shrovetide Football Match), Atherstone (called the Ball Game) in Warwickshire, Sedgefield (called the Ball Game) in County Durham, and St Columb Major (called Hurling the Silver Ball) in Cornwall.

Shrove Tuesday was once known as a 'half-holiday' in England. It started at 11:00 a.m. with the signalling of a church bell.^[9] On Pancake Day, pancake races are held in villages and towns across the United Kingdom. The tradition is said to have originated when a housewife from Olney was so busy making pancakes that she forgot the time until she heard the church bells ringing for the service. She raced out of the house to church while still carrying her frying pan and pancake.

In 1634 William Fennor wrote in his Palinodia:

"And tosse their Pancakes up for feare they burne."

But the tradition of pancake racing had started long before that. The most famous pancake race ^[10], at Olney in Buckinghamshire, has been held since 1445. The contestants, traditionally women, carry a frying pan and race to the finishing line tossing the pancakes as they go. As the pancakes are thin, skill is required to toss them successfully while running. The winner is the first to cross the line having tossed the pancake a certain number of times.

Since 1950 the people of Liberal, Kansas, and Olney have held the "International Pancake Day" race between the two towns. The two towns' competitors race along an agreed-upon course, and the times of all of the two towns' competitors are compared, to determine a winner. After the 2000 race, Liberal was leading with 26 wins to Olney's 24.^[11]. A similar race is held in North Somercotes of Lincolnshire in eastern England.

Also, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the foreshore road (beach) is closed off, schools close early and all residents are invited to skip in the road.

Pancake Day

In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Shrove Tuesday is often known colloquially as Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday. The traditional pancake is slightly thicker than a French crêpe. It is served immediately after preparation and was traditionally served with a meat-based stew, although in modern times a sprinkling of granulated sugar (fine sugar in the United States), or caster sugar (superfine sugar in the United States), and lemon juice has become more common. Many other sweet and savoury toppings are used today (for example, in Canada pancakes are often served with maple syrup or preserves). On Pancake Tuesday, some Irish immigrants in the United States, and their descendants, make pancakes with meat mixed into the batter, which results in pancakes with slices of sausage (or, often, even slices of hot dogs) that are fried into the cake.

In Australia, UnitingCare Australia, the social services arm of the Uniting Church in Australia, has used Pancake Day to raise money for their work.^[12]

The Rehab UK Parliamentary Pancake Race also takes place every Shrove Tuesday, with teams from the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Fourth Estate (press media) battling it out for the title of Parliamentary Pancake Race Champions. This relay race is held to raise awareness of the work of national brain injury charity Rehab UK^[13] and the needs of people with acquired brain injury.

The Pancake Greaze

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Another local tradition, the Pancake Greaze, takes place every year at Westminster School in London. A pancake, reinforced with horsehair, is prepared in advance and on Shrove Tuesday tossed into the air "up School". The pancake, thrown by a cook, must fly over a special metal bar. The boys at the school then fight to hold the largest section of pancake at the end of a set period of time. The winner is the boy with the largest section of pancake, which is determined by weighing the pieces of pancake with special scales.

Dates

Mardi Gras Flag

The date can vary from as early as February 3 to as late as March 9. As it is the last day before the start of Lent, the date is dependent on that of Easter, which is based on the cycles of the moon.

Shrove Tuesday (and Mardi Gras) will occur on the following dates in the following years:^[14]

2010 — 16 February 2011 — 8 March 2012 — 21 February 2013 — 12 February 2014 — 4 March 2015 — 17 February 2016 — 9 February 2017 — 28 February 2018 — 13 February 2019 — 5 March 2020 — 25 February 2021 — 16 February 2022 — 1 March

2023 — 21 February 2024 — 13 February 2025 — 4 March 2026 — 17 February 2027 — 9 February 2028 — 29 February 2029 — 13 February 2030 — 5 March 2031 — 25 February 2032 — 10 February 2033 — 1 March 2034 — 21 February 2035 — 6 February 2036 — 26 February

2037 — 17 February 2038 — 9 March 2039 — 22 February 2040 — 14 February 2041 — 5 March 2042 — 18 February 2043 — 10 February 2044 — 1 March 2045 — 21 February 2046 — 6 February 2047 — 26 February 2048 — 18 February 2049 — 2 March 2050 — 22 February

See also

• Collop Monday
• Hurling the Silver Ball
• Mardi Gras in Mobile — American festival ending with Shrove Tuesday.
• Fat Thursday
• Fasnachts
• Maslenitsa
• Nickanan Night
• Powder Day
• Bonfire of the Vanities
• Royal Shrovetide Football

Footnotes

1. ^ "Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday)". British Embassy, Washington D.C.. http://www.britainusa.com/sections/articles_show_nt1.asp?d=0&i=60062&L1=0&L2=0&a=41276. Retrieved 17 November 2006. 
2. ^ "Easter in Australia". The Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal. http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/easter/. Retrieved 17 November. 
3. ^ "Mardi Gras". St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100764. Retrieved 17 November 2006. 
4. ^ "National Celebrations: Holidays in the United States". U.S. State Department. http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/factover/holidays.htm. Retrieved 17 November 2006. 
5. ^ "Shrove Tuesday - Pancake Day!". Irish Culture and Customs. http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/ACalend/ShroveTues.html. Retrieved 17 November 2006. 
6. ^ "Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) in the UK". British Embassy, Washington D.C.. http://www.britainusa.com/sections/articles_show_nt1.asp?d=0&i=60062&L1=0&L2=0&a=41276. Retrieved 17 November 2006. 
7. ^ "Easter in Australia". The Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal. http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/easter/. Retrieved 17 November 2006. 
8. ^ Gauldie, Enid (1981). The Scottish Miller 1700 - 1900. Pub. John Donald. ISBN 0-85976-067-7.
9. ^ www.cooksguide.co.uk Cooks Guide
10. ^ 2007 Pancake Race Video
11. ^ "Shrove Tuesday". British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/holydays/lent_2.shtml. Retrieved 2008-10-15. 
12. ^ UnitingCare's Pancake Day [1] accessed 18 February 2007
13. ^ Rehab UK website
14. ^ Mardi Gras Dates

External links

• Wilson's Almanac: Sources and quotes concerning Shrove Tuesday customs
• History of the Olney, England pancake race
• History of the Liberal, Kansas pancake race
• Great pancakes for Shrove Tuesday
• Pancake Day Game
• Pancake day Song from British TV

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