Shrove Tuesday fell during the Tribe’s half term this year and we decided to have a few neighbours over to race with pancakes, make pancakes and eat pancakes.  Nowadays, the Tribe and probably a lot of other children know Shrove Tuesday better as pancake day.  A shame but that’s the commercial world that we live in today.  The word shrove came from the old English word ‘shrive’ meaning to confess.   The ingredients that make up pancakes were supposed to be restricted during Lent, a period of about 6 weeks (40 days) leading up to Easter Sunday.  So, to ensure no wastage, pancakes would be made up and eaten before Ash Wednesday (the day following Shrove Tuesday).  The Christian church doesn’t impose strict fasting during Lent.  This is quite unlike in Islam where fasting is an extremely important part of a Muslim’s faith – having lived in the Middle East for three Ramadan’s (the ninth month of the Islamic calendar), the Tribe know exactly how seriously fasting is taken – between sunrise and sunset, no food or drink must be taken, no smoking (including passive smoking), no sexual activity.  The Tribe can remember very well the few restaurants and cafes that we visited during Ramadan, with heavy drapes pulled against the bright sunshine outside in order to hide those that were eating inside.  Definately quite an experience to be living there and in a way we could understand the crazy driving that took place just before sunset as those that were fasting tried to get home as quickly as possible to break their fast.  Our fasting during Lent has been diluted to giving something up.  Amongst the friends that we had over things that were to be banished over Lent included Minecraft(!), games on the mobile before getting out of bed(!!), nail biting, being more mindful … We will see how we all get on.

Back to the pancakes.  The mayhem began when all the children, clutching their frying pans, liined up at the starting line.  There was supposed to be a course that the Tribe had marked out, but there was so much hilarity as pancakes were flipped, lost, dropped, eaten and occasionally caught, that I’m not sure that the course was followed as such.

However, they all crossed the finish line, the sky was blue and the garden was full of laughter and smiles.  What more could we ask for.  The origins of the pancake race dates back to the 15th Century in Olney in Buckinghamshire when a woman forgot the time while cooking pancakes and when the church bells began to ring for mass, she ran out of her house still in her apron and clutching the pan still containing the pancake.  Olney still holds a world famous pancake race annually.

After our racing, the cold did send everyone back into the kitchen, where the Eldest and her friends took control of pancake making.  They started with the readymade pancake mixes that I had bought – having discovered that the first mix was invented in St Joseph, Missouri in 1889, I feel slightly less guilty than I previously did!  The girls did progress to making their own mix!  There was a bit of pancake tennis at one point, but the pancakes were mostly eaten and by the time Father of the Tribe returned, the Tribe were asleep and he would never have guessed that a few hours earlier there had been 16 friends in the house enjoying Shrove Tuesday.