Quaffing pancakes for 600 years - at least

It's pancake day today so it goes without saying that you'll have enjoyed one (or two) of these delights.

Only, if you did, you might be part of a considerable minority.

I deduce that because not one of the many people I've asked if pancakes were on the menu, answered 'yes'.

Surprisingly, too, for what used to be such an English tradition, many admitted they had forgotten that today was the day.

One or two (at least) asked, 'What's pancake day?'

I didn't know

Like many others faced with that question, I suspect, I really had to admit I couldn't say why the day is pancake day.

Nor why it is also called Shrove Tuesday, and nor why tomorrow will be Ash Wednesday.

Thankfully, writer Ellen Castelow has come to the rescue at historic-uk. She reminds forgetful us who had, well, mislaid the meaning or reason for the popular date, that today is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent tomorrow, Ash Wednesday.

Lent! Oh, yes, I remember that from childhood when I tried to give up favourite tastes - cooking dates from the family pantry, sweets, of course, and chocolates, and once-a-year apples.

Ellen reminds us, 'Lent – the 40 days leading up to Easter – was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday, Anglo-Saxon Christians went to confession and were shriven …’

Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at http://sailingtopurgatory.com/index.php/feeds/492-quaffing-pancakes-for-600-years-at-least