♥ Pancake day ♥

Shrove Tuesday in the United Kingdom is commonly known as Pancake Tuesday. It is a time for people to eat pancakes or participate in pancake races. Pancakes in the United Kingdom have some variations. For example, Welshcakes or light cakes are eaten in Wales while many pancakes in Gloucester are made with suet.People who take part in the pancake races carry thin pancakes in frying pans and must race to the finish, flipping pancakes as they go. The winner is the first to the finish line with a pancake that is not burnt. Some people may take time off work to participate in the pancake races.

The Olney Pancake Race is held at Olney in Buckinghamshire on Shrove Tuesday. It is one of the best known pancake races in the United Kingdom. The course for the Olney Pancake Race is about 415 yards long (about 379 meters). Competitors must wear traditional costumes that include a skirt, apron and head covering to run the race. Official Olney and Liberal prizes are then presented at a Shriving service in the parish church after the race is finished.

In Olney, England, the Pancake Race tradition dates back more than 500 years to 1445. A woman engrossed in using up cooking fats (forbidden during Lent) was making pancakes. Hearing the church bells ring calling everyone to the shriving service, she grabbed her head scarf (required in church) and ran to the church, skillet and pancake in hand and still apron-clad. In following years, neighbors got into the act and it became a race to see who could reach the church first and collect a "Kiss of Peace" from the verger (bell-ringer.)