Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day 2024 in the United Kingdom

Shrove Tuesday is the last day before the fasting period of Lent (for Western Christians), 47 days before Easter Sunday. Shrove Tuesday is also called Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, or Pancake Day.

Is Carnival / Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day a Public Holiday?

Carnival / Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day is not a public holiday. Businesses have normal opening hours.

What Is Shrove Tuesday?

What Does Shrove Mean?

The word shrove means being absolved from sin through confession and penance.

Shrove comes from the Latin word for “writing” (scribere); the English Church used the word for writing down rules (scrifan) to mean “absolving sinners” (shrive).

Shrove Tuesday is the time for Christians to prepare for absolution by confessing to their priest and by fasting or renouncing comforts for the 40 days of Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday.

More about Lent

Pancake Day

Shrove Tuesday is known in the UK as Pancake Day. It is a time for people to eat pancakes or participate in pancake races. But what does Shrove Tuesday have to do with pancakes?

Before the Lenten fasting, people traditionally use up ingredients they are not allowed to eat during the next 40 days—especially ingredients that will spoil, like eggs and milk.

A great way to use up these ingredients is making pancakes and waffles. That is how Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent, became known as Pancake Day or Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras in French).

Pancake Traditions

Pancakes in the United Kingdom come in different forms and have long-established local traditions. Welsh cakes or light cakes are eaten in Wales, while pancakes in Gloucester are often made with suet—a hard, white or pink fat made from beef or mutton.

There are a number of local customs connected to Pancake Day, such as the annual Pancake Grease where schoolboys would fight for pancakes for money in London’s Westminster or the Pancake Race.

Pancake Races

Across the UK, people organize so-called pancake races on Shrove Tuesday. One example is the Olney Pancake Race in Olney, Buckinghamshire: On a 415 yards long course (about 379 meters), participants carry pancakes in a hot frying pan, flipping the pancakes as they run.

The winner is the first one crossing the finish line with a pancake that is not burnt. Participants wear traditional costumes consisting of a skirt, apron, and head covering.

Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football

Another local tradition both old (dating back 900 years) and positively bonkers is the unconventional football match held in Ashbourne, Derbyshire every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. The entire town plays this game for 16 hours. The goals are three miles apart, and there are very few rules: Just get the ball into the goal. Kicking, carrying, and hugging the ball are allowed.

About Carnival / Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day in Other Countries

While we diligently research and update our holiday dates, some of the information in the table above may be preliminary. If you find an error, please let us know.