February 26, 2019
No, you’re not flipping out … Pancake Day isn’t officially until next week, but that didn’t stop Kingaroy’s Anglican Ladies Guild from celebrating the annual tradition a little bit early this year.
The Anglican Ladies have been enjoying a Pancake Day get-together at St Michael And All Angels Anglican Church Hall for as long as anyone can remember.
It’s usually held on Shrove Tuesday, ie. the day before Ash Wednesday.
But this year the big day clashed with the Annual General Meeting for the Probus Club and many of the Pancake Day guests are members.
The simplest solution was to flip Pancake Day to a week earlier, but still during the traditional Shrovetide period.
About 60 people gathered in the hall to enjoy morning tea, entertainment by the Wooroolin Ladies Choir, listen to some classic Australian poetry or browse the cake and craft stalls.
And then there were the pancakes … cooked up freshly in the hall kitchen by volunteers ready to star in a pancake tossing competition!
The Christian tradition of Pancake Day dates to the times of the “black fast” when many common foodstuffs were prohibited to be eaten during Lent.
To make sure that the banned eggs, butter and milk didn’t go to waste, Christians would make pancakes on the day before Lent started.
This is also where the French term “Mardi Gras” comes from ie. Fat Tuesday.
In Europe, Mardi Gras was a party day to eat rich foods long before it became synonymous with the world-famous parades in Rio and Sydney.
