Shrove Tuesday is the day before the season of Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. The name Shrove comes from the old middle English word ‘Shriven’, meaning to confess. Lent always begins on Wednesday (Ash Wednesday), so people went to confession the day before, and it became known as Shrove Tuesday.
The tradition of eating pancakes comes from the old custom of using all the fattening ingredients in the house before Lent so that people were ready to fast. The fattening ingredients that most people had in their homes were eggs and milk. A simple recipe to use up these ingredients was to combine them with some flour and make pancakes.
In other countries, Shrove Tuesday is known as ‘Mardi Gras’, meaning ‘Fat Tuesday’ in French, which also comes from the idea of using up food before Lent. Many countries around the world have Mardi Gras celebrations and carnivals. Some of the most famous are held in Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, Venice and Sydney.