Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day is it is more commonly known now, has a long history.
The 40 days before Easter Sunday, the period of Lent, was marked by abstaining from many common foods such as fats, eggs, flour and milk (this mirrored the 40 days of John the Baptist’s desert fast in the bible).
Therefore any left over meat would be consumed on the Monday before lent (‘Collop’ Monday – named after an old word for a slice of meat) and any remaining eggs, butter, flour and milk eaten on the Tuesday. The easiest way to do the latter was to fry a mixture of eggs, flour and milk in butter, to produce a pancake, thus creating a tradition that, unlike collop monday, has endured.
Churches across the country would rink a bell calling all Christians to come to confession to be absolved their sins – or be ‘shriven’ in old English – on this Tuesday, the last day before lent. Hence the link between pancakes and ‘shrove’ Tuesday.
In addition to the nationwide pancake day traditions in the uk, many local areas have their own unique customs and celebrations. Here are a few examples:
Pancake Races

Many towns and villages host pancake races with participants running a course while flipping pancakes in frying pans. For example the olney pancake race is a unique annual tradition held in the small market town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
Dating back to 1445, the event takes place on shrove tuesday and is believed to have originated when a local woman, startled by the church bells while making pancakes, ran to the service still holding her frying pan.
Today, participants – traditionally women aged 18 and over, but men now take part too – don aprons and headscarves as they race along a 415-yard course through the town, flipping pancakes in their pans at least three times. The race ends at the church, where a service is held.
Competitors aim for speed and pancake-flipping skill, with the winner receiving a special kiss of peace and a prayer book.
The olney race has become internationally famous, even sparking a friendly rivalry with a similar event in Liberal, Kansas, USA.
Other pancake races take place as far afield as Rippon in Yorkshire, Westminster in London, Basingstoke in Berkshire and across the UK.
Mob Football

Mob football is a historic and chaotic tradition still celebrated in towns like Atherstone in Warwickshire and Ashbourne in Derbyshire on pancake day. Dating back to the medieval period, these games are less like modern football and more like a mix of rugby, wrestling, and a free-for-all scramble for a ball.
Atherstone
In Atherstone, the annual Shrove Tuesday game has been played for over 800 years. The match typically begins with the ceremonial throwing of a large ball into a densely packed crowd on long street.
There are few rules: participants aim to keep possession of the ball, and the game often becomes a fierce contest of strength and strategy. The winner is the person holding the ball when the game ends, often after two hours of rough-and-tumble play.
Ashbourne
In Ashbourne, the royal shrovetide football match spans two days, starting on shrove tuesday and continuing on Ash Wednesday.
The game pits two teams – the up’ards and down’ards – against each other, with goals set three miles apart.
Hundreds of participants chase a large ball through streets, rivers, and fields, cheered on by enthusiastic spectators. The game has no time limit and is marked by its intense physicality.
Despite the rough nature of mob football, both traditions are cherished as a unique way to connect with history and reinforce local identity.
Pancake Tossing

A variation on the above pancake races.
Communities and schools across the uk hold pancake-tossing contests, where participants compete to see who can flip a pancake the highest or most skillfully.
Skipping in Scarborough
In Scarborough, north yorkshire, residents gather on the seafront to participate in a unique skipping tradition.
Long ropes are stretched across the road,and people of all ages take turns skipping.