SHROVING DAYS

Evening Star, Issue 26029, 18 February 1947, Page 5

SHROVING DAYS

THE PANCAKE BELL SURVIVALS OF ANCIENT REVELS (Written by James E. Carver, for the ‘ Evening Star.’) To-day is Shrove Tuesday! For centuries Shrovetide lias played a prominent part in the folklore and customs of the British Islands. Many of its old-time revels still survive, and none is more popular than the eating of pancakes. Now that the war is over the ancient custom will revive once more. Inseparably connected with these is the pancake bell, which has been rung from time immemorial, and can still be heard in dozens of places. On the ringing of the bell at Benvick-on-Tweed, the housewives in town set about cooking and tossing their pancakes. In the Peak district parishes of Eyam and Tideswell the parish bell is still rung, and in former days it was customary for tlie first pancake cooked ill each house to be thrown over the church, but this extravagant habit has now died At many places in Yorkshire, including Halifax. Skipton, and Beverley, the pancake bell is always rung. A piece of doggerel associated with the first town runs: — When t’pancake bell begins to ring All Halifax lads begin to sing, ‘‘ Come on, we’re bahn to have our fling, Pancakes and traicle, them s the thing.”

At Hoddeston, in Hertfordshire, the curfew used to be rung every Shrove Tuesday at 4 o’clock, after which the pancakes could be cooked and eaten until 8 in the evening. At Claybrook, Leicestershire, the curfew bell was rung at/noon for the same purpose, whim an old Midland nursery rhyme, referring to a church iii Northampton, declares:—

Pancakes and fritters, Say the bells of St. Peter’s. Although the time for the ringing of the bell varied, a quarter to 11 was the most popular time as a rule, and it was a signal for the children to be. let out of school, and for the apprentices to cease work. The remainder of the day was devoted to various sports, chiefly cock fighting and rough-and-

tumble games. LAST DAY BEFORE LENT. Shrove, or ‘‘ Shriving ” Tuesday, has always been a day of merrymaking, because it is the last day before the solemn season of Lent, which begins next day with Ash Wednesday. In some parts even now the children are given a holiday, and it was once common for those in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire to

go “ a-shroving ” to collect all kinds of good things. ‘‘ Shroving bags ” were made of gay material, and such things as eggs, cakes, apples, cheese, and even home-made sausages were carried back in triumph.

The church bells were originally rung to warn the people that the ing shriven each other, were now ready to hear the confessions of their parishioners. From the ringing of the bell onwards, old custom decreed that no one should eat any other food but the conveniently-cooked pancake, until lie had been shriven. Another reason for their universal use was that eggs, dripping, and lard were absolutely forbidden during Lent, and had to be used

up before Ash Wednesday. So natter was mixed and left handy to the fire, and everyone made his pancakes as he had need. In some districts the bell was known as the “ Fritters bell,” and the pancakes were called “ Flipjacks. ’ One old Scottish name for Shrove Tuesday was “ Fasten’s e’en,” a name which explains itself. scotland;s fare. Indeed, Scotland had quite a menu of its own. Tossing of pancakes was known as “ kesting,” and the special dish was called ” crowdie,” which is still eaten to-

day. It is made by pouring boiling water over oatmeal, stirring it well over the fire, and then serving with milk and butter. This, too, is quickly made, and accounted for its popularity. Often a ring was put in a special bowl of crowdie, and it was believed the first maiden to find it would be the next to get married. On the Monday before Shrove Tuesday, Scotland’s usual fare was eollops, consisting of slices of fat salted beef and eggs, the fat from the meat being used to fry the pancakes next day. At Eyam, the Peak village previously

mentioned, the day was known as “ Collop Monday,” because on that day the people used to go round asking for eollops of fat bacon from which to

get grease for the pancakes. Because Shrove Tuesday preceded a fast, it naturally became a day when people made it a custom to have plenty to eat. This gave rise to many disgruntled complaints on the part of some' narrow-minded moralists, who preached much about the sin of overeating, Three centuries ago, quaint old John Taylor,- the “ Water Poet,” described the habits of the people in these words: “By that time the clocke strikes 11 (which by the help of a knavish sexton) is commonly before 9, there is a bell rung, the sound whereof makes thousands of-people distractful, forgetful of either manners or humanitie. Then there is a thing called wheaten flour, which the cooks do mingle with water, eggs, spice, and other tragicall, magicall, enchantments, and then they put it little by little into a frying pan of boiling suet, where it makes a confounded dismall hissing. . . . Until at last it is transformed into the forme of a flipjack cal’d a pancake, which ominous incantation the ignorant people doe devour very greedilie.” One of the most famous of surviving Shrove .Tuesday customs is the tossing of the pancake at Westminster School. Here a white-clad chef acts the‘chief part, although the pancake is only scrambled for by the representatives of each form, and not as formerly by the whole school. The observance is still something of a rough-and-tumble, but it is gentler than in the lusty days of yore, when the boys pelted any unfortunate cook who missed his throw with books, and the chef retaliated with the frying pan. The boy who is most successful in the scramble is rewarded with a sum of money. Eton School had an even older Shrovetide custom, which has now fallen into oblivion. In Elizabethan days the cook used to fasten a pancake to the “ crow,” as the knocker of the school was known.