In dairy farming, until the recent expansion of intensive farming methods, early spring was a time when the eating of dairy products was avoided, as cows’ milk was specifically for the feeding of new-born calves born during the spring. In rural parts of France, it is still not possible to purchase fresh milk during the spring months.
Early spring is also a time when meat was scarce. The meat preserved (using salt) after the slaughter of animals in the autumn was usually running low and the next period of slaughter did not take place until late spring.
Early spring was also a time to rest flocks of hens and limit their feed when food stocks were scarce. With the coming of Christianity this very practical custom was given a specific day – on which dairy products, eggs and meat could be eaten for the last time before Lent began. Thus the tradition of making pancakes with milk, eggs and butter was established.
In the Christian church it is also required that you be shriven before Lent begins: to confess any sins and be absolved – hence the term Shrove Tuesday. The date of Shrove Tuesday is dependent on the dates for Easter as it takes place forty days before Palm Sunday. The dates for Easter are set by the date of the first full moon on or after 21st March.
According to legend the pancake race originated in Olney, Buckinghamshire in 1445. A housewife was busily frying pancakes on a griddle on Shrove Tuesday when, forgetting the time, she was interrupted by the ringing of the church bells calling worshippers to be shriven. She ran out of the house with her frying pan and sped to the church tossing the pancake to ensure it didn’t burn. Since then, pancake races have taken place in many villages throughout Britain, originally with housewives competing to see who can get to the church first without dropping their pancakes.
A tradition in Britain of holding a football game in the streets involving all the men of the village dates back to the seventeenth century. It continued until 1835 when the Highway Act prohibited the playing of football on public highways. However, some communities still engage in the practice. In Alnwick in Northumberland, it is known as “Scoring the Hales”, in Atherstone in Warwickshire it is “The Atherstone Ball Game” and in St Columb Major in Cornwall it is referred to as “Hurling the Silver Ball”.
An English custom for Shrove Tuesday involved children going to every house in the village asking for any leftovers from the frying pan. If the occupant didn’t oblige, they were at liberty to express their displeasure by carrying out some form of mischief, such as stealing their gate, or pelting the house with eggs.
In many churches the palm leaves used to celebrate the previous year’s Palm Sunday are burned. The remaining ash is then used on Ash Wednesday (see Ash Wednesday & Lent).
