Pancake Races, the English answer to Mardi Gras!

And...they're off! This is what they do for Shrove Tuesday in England...they race with pancakes! Oh those crazy English! The tradition is that on Tuesday before Lent, you would have a feast of all the things you couldn't eat during Lent, i.e. eggs, meat, milky foods, etc. Apparently a woman in 1445 lost track of time, heard the bells calling for confession (Shrove comes from 'shriving' which means to confess and receive absolution - you were supposed to go to church on Shriving Tuesday and receive forgiveness for your sins.) and ran to the church with pan in hand and cake still frying. So hence the tradition of pancake races was born! (The 'Gunmakers' had a little cannon there and twas loud - that's where all that smoke came from.)

This race was held at Guildhall in London with all the several guilds participating. The idea of the race is to run down the concourse and each time you reach the middle point you flip your pancake.

Here are the Madhatters awaiting the decision for the prize of best 'Mad Hat' - I didn't agree with the hat that won. I still say it should have been 'Nefertiti' guy there in the front!

There were some close-calls (a few die-hards dove for the finish line and during the second part of the race, racing with tea cups, several tea cups were smashed at the finish line), but the weather was great, I laughed every time the emcee opened his mouth = a great, great day for pancakes!