Happy International Pancake Day!!!

So I had no idea today was International Pancake Day, as I learned while listening to NPR on my way to H-E-B during my lunch break. So as soon as I got back to work, I tried my best to learn what the Internet had to show me about this miraculous holiday.

Pancake Day is also commonly known as Shrove Tuesday, which ushers in the fasting that we all know as Lent (OK, maybe we all don't; I should clarify to "that all Catholics know as " or "that many religious people know as"; so, you know, fill in what you need there to make yourself feel better ... or not; it's completely up to you).

The history (at least according to Pancake Parlour) goes that people tried to use up their supplies of butter, fat, and eggs, which are all FORBIDDEN (but desired) during Lent, so, you know, they made tons of pancakes and made themselves nice and fat (hence Fat Tuesday) before Ash Wednesday.

Other things to know:

• "Shrove" is thought to derive from "shrive," which means to confess.
• Like I said above, the need to get rid of these fatty foods led to the French Mardi Gras, which means Fat Tuesday.
• Liberal, Kansas, has been holding a Pancake Day race since the 1950s.
• The was once such as thing as a pancake bell.
• According to official rules of the Pancake Day Race at Olney in Buckinghamshire, only women wearing dresses and aprons can participate while running with a hot frying pan and trying to flip pancakes.
• Pictures from pancake races in England.