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Why do we have Pancake Day?

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Shrove Tuesday seems to turn up out of nowhere every year, but why do Salfordians celebrate by stuffing our faces with pancakes?

Many people forget the connotations of these national celebrations which date back hundreds (sometimes thousands of years).

Just like Christmas and Easter, Pancake Day is engraved into our culture through religion.

Shrove Tuesday has been celebrated since before 1000 AD and the tradition of pancakes has been consistent since around 1600.

Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent (where Christians often give something up for 40 days in honour of Jesus’ fast) so it became tradition to use up ingredients from the past year, the day before.

Pancakes became the perfect dish to celebrate with, due to the ingredients being common cooking ingredients and the sweetness off the dish makes it a perfect last binge before Lent and helps use up any last indulgences as toppings.

Shrove Tuesday is also used as a time for Christians to repent their sins as they begin the season of Lent.

The history of pancake day is filled with different traditions with people playing football on the road until the ‘1835 Highway Act’ banned the tradition, and ‘pancake races’ are still relatively commonplace in the UK where people race whilst flipping pancakes in a frying pan.

How are the people of Salford are celebrating Pancake Day:

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