It is pancake day!

[platypus@glammr.us]

@sundogplanets me: no it's not! that's the day before Lent!

also me: oh wait tomorrow IS the day before Lent!!!!!

(it's fine! I have a day! I'm not Catholic! I just want a snack!)

[not2b@sfba.social]

@sundogplanets I was raised Catholic (it didn't take) and I never heard of pancakes being a thing for the Tuesday before Lent.

[sundogplanets@mastodon.social]

@platypus Oh yeah, this post was TOTALLY confusing because I'm in New Zealand, so it's tomorrow here already

I just really love pancakes!

[derickr@phpc.social]

@teadrinker @sundogplanets Growing up in the Netherlands, pancakes were savoury (think cheese, bacon, and mushrooms). But I'm in the UK now and we're doing both these, and then the traditional (for here) lemon and sugar. Altough I do have a bottle of home made artisanal Canadian maple syrup...

[hfalcke@mastodon.social]

@NatureMC @sundogplanets I thought I knew everything about Carnival already, living near Cologne where this is serious business, but never heard of Pancake Tuesday . Seems to be a widespread tradition indeed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday (also here we get lots of pancake-like food and sweets, but not restricted to Tuesday).
Are you sure it is pagan? Easter/Lent is related to the Jewish Passover and it would be surprising if this global tradition is emerging from French pagan rites

[hfalcke@mastodon.social]

@NatureMC @sundogplanets Of course, everything is possible and French monasteries were pretty influential in Europe during early Middle Ages

[valhalla@social.gl-como.it]

@not2b @sundogplanets they aren't a thing here in Italy either, but sweet stuff made of a batter with eggs in it and then fried definitely are.

so I guess it's the same idea, just a different variant

[raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie]

@sundogplanets
Ti's not just Catholics.
Also maple syrup is modern & North American. Jam from local fruit, not even honey.
Long ago birch syrup was a thing in Ireland and still in parts of mainland Europe.
You can buy real Canadian maple syrup here in Ireland, but I only know one person keen on it.
Lent is why St. Patrick became popular, a Feast day trumps a Fast Day.
Pancakes here are really Drop Scones, not thin & rollable.

[naturemc@mastodon.online]

@hfalcke have traditions of "navettes", ship-like pastries, which were offered to the Black Madonna in a ritual (2.2.) almost identical to the ancient Roman festival of Isis at that time. Especially the Catholic church adopted many of these traditions (mission became easier).

But they are even older, coming from a agricultural society and their calendar, in early times lunar (like Eastern first was a lunar date): https://mastodon.online/@RadicalAnthro@c.im/116051369534219001

In France early spring was a time of

@sundogplanets

[ratcatcher@beige.party]

@teadrinker

Yes, lemon and sugar in the UK when I was a child.

Didn't hear of maple syrup until a few years ago. We had Tate & Lyle golden syrup back then. I think we sometimes put that on pancakes but lemon and sugar was the staple.

[naturemc@mastodon.online]

@hfalcke cleaning: body, house, stables. The time before animals could go outside again. During winter, people ate a very high-fat diet and stored eggs for long periods (up to 2 months). So came the day when they made a feast with all these eggs and the fat from winter slaughter: Mardi Gras is the day of Crepes and Beignets.
After that time, the chickens would lay eggs again with fresh green fodder.
All these customs were ideal to melt with the Catholic and Jewish ones. The

@sundogplanets

[naturemc@mastodon.online]

@hfalcke customs of driving away winter and fighting evil spirits are still evident, especially in the Alemannic carnival. Chaos is defeated by the order of the agricultural cycle, determined by stars, the moon, solstices.

@sundogplanets - I didn't CW my thread because this is what I tell in public in my museum tours in a cultural heritage center.