Pancakes

Last tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day to give it its more popular name. Pancake Day is the only day of the year when it is legal to eat pancakes in Britain. Eating pancakes on any day other than Shrove Tuesday is punishable by death. I missed it...now I have to wait another year before I can eat a pancake.

Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the start of Lent. Pancakes were just an easy and tasty way of using up eggs and flour before fasting began. I was listening to the excellent Danny Baker on BBC London last week who mentioned that his mother would only ever make pancakes on pancake day and it was just the same in my house. We very rarely saw a pancake on any day other than pancake day! I wasn't too fussed as I don't like them anyway!

Pancake Day is followed by Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday was so called because ashes were put on repentant adherents foreheads. The ashes were usually collected from the Palm crosses that had been burnt on the prvevious years Palm Sunday.

It's a lucky coincidence that this weeks Band That You've Never Heard Of...post is from an album called Ash Wednesday.

Some of this post is true.