Pancake Tuesday is quite a nice name is it not? But it is not the only
name for this holiday. It is also called Shrove Tuesday, Shrovetide,
Fasting-tide, and Fasten-e'en or Fastern's-e'en. I shall try to explain
to you why it has all these names. There is, as you must know, a great
festival of the Christian Church called Easter. It is the festival of
the resurrection of Christ, and to prepare for this solemn festival the
ancient Church set apart a period of fasting which we call Lent. This
fasting-time begins upon Ash Wednesday, and on the morning of the
previous day, in the old times, people went to the priests to confess
their sins and get shriven. Hence it was called Shrove or Shriven
Tuesday; hence, also, it was called Fasten-e'en, because it was upon the
eve of the Great Fast.
After attending church in the morning the people were permitted to enjoy
themselves to their heart's desire all the rest of Shrove Tuesday, and
before the rigorous fasting-time of Lent began. During the Middle Ages,
indeed, this merry-tide lasted for several days, and some idea of the
jollity of Shrovetide can be gathered from the way in which the Carnival
is held upon the Continent, even now. In England, during the old times
before the Reformation, there were great feasts during Shrovetide, and
all the old English games and pastimes went right merrily. Some of these
pastimes were very rough and cruel--such as cock-fighting and
bull-baiting--and would not be permitted to-day. But there were also
such games as football and hand-ball; and in certain towns in Scotland
the game of hand-ball is still played, sometimes very roughly, upon
Fastern's-e'en.
Of all the jollity and junketting of that festive time very little
remains to us; almost nothing except the practice of baking and eating
pancakes upon Shrove Tuesday. But nowadays the ceremonies connected with
Pancake Tuesday are not so important and picturesque as they used to be.
In the old days--the days when Shakspere lived--a bell was rung in the
morning called the Pancake Bell. At the sound of the bell the
preparation of the pancakes began. Wheaten flour mixed with water,
spices, eggs and other nice things were dropped into the frying-pan as
it sizzled over the fire. Then followed the tossing of the pancakes.
This was a time of great fun, because it required a good deal of skill
to toss the pancakes and catch them in the pan. In giving them a quick
twirl round the pancakes sometimes dropped into the fire. But that did
not greatly matter, because there were always plenty of pancakes for
everybody; and also plenty of fun in the eating of them.
There was only one person in the company who did not enjoy the fun. For
the first pancake tossed in the pan was given to that member of the
party who was considered the most lazy. It was seldom eaten, you may be
sure, as the Lazy One found it the best plan to run away and hide. But
it was a merry day, especially for young people at school and college.
At Westminster School, for instance, the cook used to bring his
frying-pan with a pancake in it right into the schoolroom and toss it
among the boys. In the scramble that followed the boy who captured the
pancake unbroken and carried it to the Dean received a guinea for his
cleverness. That was a jolly game and it is only one of many that used
to be popular on Pancake Tuesday. 'Tis a pity that much of this
merry-making has disappeared.