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Show f , , 4k. y , . t I ' , ., - !. - V - j . i r " r Miss Florence Callow, 18, flips a pancake for interested ladies, to show them how she handled the flapjack while winning the traditional 505-year-old Pancake Day race in OIncy, England A A A A PANCAKE DAY Pre-Lenten Fete, With Ancient Tradition, Gains in Popularity Pancake Day, which has gained in popularity in the United States in recent years, will be celebrated February 6. Last year, Pancake Day was celebrated in England, many countries in Europe, Africa, South America, Canada, as well as this country. Notable among the celebrations in the United States was the first International Pancake Race between the women of Liberal, Kansas, and Olney, England. This race was the subject of newspaper and radio stories which flashed, many times, around the world. The women of Olney won, but on February 6 the Kansas women are determined to emerge victorious in the second running of this now yearly event. Pancake Day always is the day i before Ash Wednesday, ' the beginning begin-ning of Lent. The holiday pancakes had their start as "shriving cakes." At the tolling of a bell, housewives In old England rushed to prepare their pancakes, according to a prescribed pre-scribed formula. They then flocked to their churches to be ''shriven," or absolved of their sins. Hence, the last day before Lent became "Shrove Tuesday," then, as the religious significance dimmed, simply "Pancake Day." As the religious emphasis on Pancake Pan-cake Day dwindled in England, the day took on the aspects of a merrymaking merry-making holiday. The day before Lent also became a fun-filled celebration cele-bration time in many other parts of the world. The word, "carnival," which means "farewell to meat," was applied to pre-lenten fetes in the Mediterranean area. "Mardi Gras" (literally, "Fat Tuesday") is an annual event, in parts of Europe as well as in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, where the current cur-rent celebrations are quite boisterous. boister-ous. On "Fat Tuesday" in old France it was customary to butcher butch-er a fat ox for the annual feast before the Lenten fast. the other's dummy and burn it It is believed that the custom orig-nated orig-nated as a symbol that the yuletide season of merrymaking was ending. end-ing. Old-fashioned Pancake Day bore much of the prankish flavor of a smalltown Halloween. Men, women and children, dressed in outlandish costumes, carried their pranks out all over the town. Pancake Jingles An old writer testifies, "Some run about the streets attired like monks, and some like kings, accompanied ac-companied with pomp and guard and other stately things; some like wild beasts do run abroad in skins that divers be arrayed, and eke with loathsome shapes that dreadful dread-ful are to see; they counterfeit both bears and wolves and lions fierce in sight, and raging bulls. These festives in England and many parts of Europe also led to a barrage of Pancake Day jingles. One of the most popular comes to us from Shropshire: "Shrove Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Tues-day, Poor Jack went to plow, His mother made pancakes, She scarcely knew how; She tossed them, she turned them, She made them so black, With soot from the chimney That poisoned poor Jack." And there is another fifteenth century jingle that is often quoted A Household Sport In frying their Pancake Day delicacies del-icacies English housewives were taking advantage of an opportunity to use up their accumulated meat fats forbidden during Lent. Their flapjacks were customarily turned by flipping them into the air and catching them in a skillet. "Throwing "Throw-ing the pancake" became a recognized recog-nized household sport. It was this sport which soon led to the development develop-ment of the 505-year-old Pancake Day race in Olney, England. Football was played on Pancake Day in many parts of Scotland. The married men played the bachelors, bach-elors, and the married women tackled the spinsters. Modern football, foot-ball, as compared to these old traditional football games, is strictly strict-ly for sissies. The goal lines for this football game were often three miles apart a distance which usually us-ually held the score down to a couple of goals per game. The game has been supplanted by other Pancake Day sports in England, and most of the English women now have traded the gridiron for the griddle. Boys at Westminster school In London eagerly await Pancake Pan-cake Day each year. At 11:00 a.m., a verger of the abbey solemnly emerges from the college col-lege kitchen followed by a cook bearing a large pancake. In the school he throws it into the crowd of waiting boys, who fight for possession of the flapjack. flap-jack. The lad who emerges with the biggest chunk of the pancake pan-cake gets a sum of money from the abbey. The burning of "Holly" and "Ivy" was one of the major pastimes pas-times on Pancake Day as early as the fourteenth century. Boys from the ages of five to 18 constructed a lifelike effigy of holly, while girls of the same ages made a dummy of ivy. Both "Holly" and "Ivy" were hidden early on Pancake Day, and the goal of each group was to find today: "Great 'A', little 'a' Today is Pancake Day! Toss the ball high, Throw the ball low, Those that come after May sing high-ho!" As Pancake Day celebrations became be-came increasingly popular in all parts of the world, they ranged in tempo from the friendly international inter-national race between the women of Olney, England, and Liberal. Kansas, to such riotous celebrations as the "Mardi Gras" in New Orleans Or-leans and a similar celebration in Argentina. A news item from Argentina Ar-gentina last year reported that the Pancake . Day celebration resulted in 23 dead and 3.844 injured. A Public Holiday Elsewhere in the world, Pancake Day is a public holiday in Africa, many other countries of South America, French Guiana, Mique-lon, Mique-lon, and the South Seas. Pancake Day celebrations in the United States and Canada are typified by pancake breakfasts, break-fasts, luncheons, and sapper conducted by civic, social, and church groups. Highlight of all 1950 Pancake Day celebrations was the first running of the International Pancake Day Race. Miss Florence Callow, of Olney, Ol-ney, was the winner. She defeated the American winner. Mrs. Dale Warden, by some seven seconds, over the 415-yard course. Housewives of Liberal made plans for the second annual race long in advance of the event, determined de-termined to bring the engraved silver griddle, symbol of international interna-tional championship, back to the United States. |
