Popular practices are associated with celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent.
As a child I loved Pancake Day. Mum would cook pancakes for supper. Yes, instead of dinner. We could eat as many as we wanted, and why not, it is at least good for you. In England the pancakes are different from the American "flap jacks". More like Crepes. We ate them with lemon and sugar.
We had pancake races in the village. Such fun........the ladies ran with a frying pan and had to flip her pancake as she ran.
Still, the very best was eating them, and not having to eat dinner.
In America they seem to go with Mardi Gras more than anything else. I don't care for that myself. The drunken revelry reminds me of Sodom and Gomorah and not much else. I don't think the pancake races are more fun but they are certainly more wholesome, and it is fun to watch. It involves the community rather than getting drunk with strangers and goodness knows what else. I am not judging people. To each their own, but somehow the old fashioned simple things appeal to me more.
