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Pancake Day is an informal name for Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday in some Christian traditions.

It’s called Pancake Day due to the tradition of eating pancakes on that day. Some people call it Pancake Tuesday, but this is less common.

Shrove Tuesday is the last day of Shrovetide, the three-day period before the beginning of Lent, which is the season of fasting and penitence that precedes Easter. Shrovetide also includes Shrove Sunday and Shrove Monday.

The day before Ash Wednesday can also be called Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday).

Pancake Day—a�첹 Shrove Tuesday—happens 47 days before Easter Sunday. (Lent is often considered a period of 40 days, but it actually consists of 40 weekdays.) Since Easter Sunday moves every year, Pancake Day can fall between February 3 and March 9.

Pancake Day 2024 falls on February 13. In 2025, Pancake Day will fall on March 4.

Shrove Tuesday has been called Pancake Day since at least the 1700s. The word shrove in Shrove Tuesday is the past tense of the verb shrive, which means “confess one’s sins, such as to a priest” (it can also mean “to hear confession”).

Shrovetide was once a time that many Christians devoted to confessing their sins before the beginning of Lent. But Lent itself is a time of fasting and abstaining, and Shrovetide and Shrove Tuesday eventually became, for many, a time of indulging before the Lenten fast begins.

Traditionally, fasting for Lent has involved giving up foods like eggs and fats (such as butter). Shrove Tuesday is the last day to use up such foods so they don’t go to waste during Lent, and pancakes are one of the easiest (and most delicious) ways to use these ingredients. That’s why the day is often called Pancake Day or Pancake Tuesday. Shrove Tuesday and Pancake Day are commonly used as names for the day in the U.K. and some other places, where many people look forward to enjoying pancakes even if they don’t observe Lent.

The name Mardi Gras is more common in France and the U.S.

What are some terms that often get used in discussing Pancake Day?

• Shrove Tuesday
• Mardi Gras
• Ash Wednesday
• Lent
• Shrovetide
• Easter
• fast

Pancake Day is a very informal way of referring to Shrove Tuesday. It’s most commonly used in the U.K.

Growing up, my family somehow believed that the existence of Pancake Day meant there was some sort of secret prohibition on their consumption any other day of the year. So it was tremendously exciting. My children eat pancakes all the time so it basically means nothing.

— Stig Abell (@StigAbell)

Pancake Day has really got some work on its hands to turn the nation’s mood around this time.

— Mark Watson (@watsoncomedian)

okay great it’s valentines day soon but more importantly it’s PANCAKE DAY in two weeks ❤️

— 𝖕𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖙. (@MYSOSEITY)

True or False?

Pancake Day always falls on the same date.