Today is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day as some people call it, and it’s one of the three days which make up Shrovetide: Shrove Sunday, Collop Monday and Shrove Tuesday.
You can read all about Lent and Shrovetide, plus get a Tudor recipe for pancakes, in my article Lent, Shrovetide, Shrove Sunday, Collop Monday and Shrove Tuesday.
As I say in that article, Shrovetide was marked with court celebrations and entertainment such as jousting, plays, music and masques, and in 1522 Anne Boleyn took part in one such event on Shrove Tuesday 1522 – The Chateau Vert Pageant. Click here to read all about it.
Will you be having pancakes today? I will, and my favourite topping is lemon and sugar – what’s yours?
I always have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I am a stickler for traditions. Love mine with lots of melted butter!!
GADawn57
Pancakes, Pancakes, LaLaLa, Pancakes, Pancakes HaHaHa, I love pancakes.
Sounds delicious! Going to make some this evening, with Nutella on top!! Have a great day. Xx
Thank you for all your hard work, and the quality of your Anne Boleyn history, as well as all the surrounding political figures.
I read you r column without saying “thank you”, but I am always here, and always reading.
Yours truly,
Barry Rhodes
YUp, tradional lemon and sugar here too.
I had no idea today was Shrove Tuesday, but I used to love my mums pancakes and normally have them myself. I will have to have Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday together.
Today is my aunts birthday and my late mother in laws first birthday after she passed away so today has been one of mixed emotions, but we had a get together to remember mum with cakes and her favourite foods. I think the idea of Shrove Tuesday was to literally get rid of all the good sweet stuff in the house and it you did not eat it or share it with friends and the community you stored it away if it would keep. In Tudor times getting rid of all that sweet stuff must have been a read pain as they loved it so much as they had only recently been introduced to sugar and made mountains of stuff with it. No wonder they had such bad teeth.
Shove Tuesday or Bannock Day as it was sometimes called up here in Scotland in days of old, read this in an old cook book of mine.
A special Oat-cake was made called a ‘Bannock’ (a type of flat bread)…consisting of oat-meal, eggs and salt which were then cooked on a griddle, or a Bannock Stone. A charm was added to the dough, and if a single person found it, they would be married within a year.
We had pan-cakes, loads of lemon juice and golden syrup is my tipple….