Pancake Day (or Shrove Tuesday, its less appetizing name) has been around for centuries. It’s a traditional feast before the start of Lent, forty days of fasting in the Christian calendar. A bell – which became known as the Pancake Bell – would ring, telling people to come to church and confess their sins.
Shrove Tuesday was also the last day to use up your leftover eggs and butter before the fast started – by making delicious breakfast food, of course. And so, Pancake Day was born.
There are some bizarre traditions in parts of the UK to commemorate the traditional meaning of Pancake Day. The village of Olney hosts a pancake race that’s been going on since 1445. One legend has it that a housewife heard the bell ringing and ran to church, still holding her frying pan with a pancake on it.
In another version, pancakes were used as a bribe so that the bell would be rung sooner, and people could start enjoying the celebrations. Today, women race through town, wearing aprons and holding a frying pan with a pancake on it that they have to flip three times during the race.
Students of LSE established their own tradition by gathering at a Student Hall to make Vegan Banana Pancakes. Bon Appetit!
Words and photos by LSE Social Media Ambassadors Nadja, Alisha, Taylor, Erika and Kajol.