Pancake Day

Anyone who lives in or around New Orleans will, I'm sure, happily tell you of Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras. While it started out as a celebration before the fast of Lent, it is now primarily an excuse to get drunk and wear weird outfits.

The Brits, of course, have their own version of Fat Tuesday, but without the party. Over here, we call it Shrove Tuesday, and it is Pancake Day. Because of the fasts of Lent, people wanted to get rid of the excess temptations filling their pantries (also, to eat the things before they went bad over Lent), and as a result, Pancake Day came into existence. People rarely fast for Lent anymore, but, well, any reason to eat is a good enough one for me (PANCAKES!!!).

The pancakes here are not pancakes as we know them. They're thinner, lighter and overall crepe-ier, but they're still delicious. However, the images you will see below are not of people devouring the delicious doughy substance, but, rather, racing with it.

The annual Pancake Day races (in Brick Lane) have also somehow insinuated themselves into the tradition. They are relay races in teams of three, in which the runner goes from end to end, pan in hand, flipping upon command of the arbitrators (those are the dudes in the striped pajamas with the light sabers in the photos. Whenever they point their light saber and yell flip, you have to). While the pancakes do not alway remain in pan upon flipping, this seems to be a minor difficulty to most competitors, who simply pick the thing up off of the ground and plop it back in. The winner is awarded a silver frying pan with their name engraved onto it (which isn't much good for cooking I would guess, but if you want to run around carrying a pancake in it, it'd probably work well enough).

The costumes are optional, but they certainly make it more fun. Personally, my day isn't complete if I don't see some guy dressed up as a hot pink dragon, but that's just me.