Pancake Day is more formally known as Shrove Tuesday, which is the last day before the start of Lent. Lent is the period of 40 days which leads up to Easter in the Christian calendar - 40 is a very significant number in the Bible. Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of ‘shriving’ - a ritual in which Christians would confess their sins and receive forgiveness. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up, and Christians would not eat such foods as meat, fish, fats, eggs and milky foods during this time. Pancakes became associates with Shrove Tuesday as they were a dish that could use up all the eggs, fat and milk in the house. Nowadays, many believers give up certain foods or other things as a form of self-discipline during this period.
