Did you get any?

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday or as its probably better known to most children -"Pancake Day"
This year it obviously fell on Tuesday 17th. February.

Why does the date change every year?

Well Shrove Tuesday must always fall 47 days before Easter Sunday and Easter Sunday moves every year. So the next question is

Why does the date of Easter move?

Easter is called a moveable feast because the date of Easter changes every year. Easter Sunday can fall on any date from 22 March to 25 April.

The reason for this variation in the date of Easter is based on the lunar calendar (moon) rather than our more well-known solar one.

Easter always falls on the first Sunday following the full Moon after 21 March. If the Full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday.

Enough confusion for one day I feel. Things are never straightforward are they!
You can rely on Tarvinonline however to get you cooking pancakes on the correct day in 2016.

In 2016 Pancake day will be on 9th. February so a date for the diary. I think we will put it on Tarvin's Event Calendar as I do love pancakes!

There are so many recipes for pancakes, some with fresh fruit, cream or even chocolate spread! Personally I prefer them simple with just sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. No doubt there will be some pancakes that ended up on ceilings and floors. We still cannot flip them in the pan.

Traditionally, Shrove Tuesday is the day that Christians would confess all of their sins, before Lent commences the next day, on Ash Wednesday.

So how did pancakes get involved?

Pancakes became an convenient way of getting rid of "rich foods" such as flour, eggs and sugar before the 40-day fasting season of Lent began.
Today I guess the background has been mostly forgotten and we just enjoy them as a nice alternative to our everyday puddings (yoghurt!) at dinner time.