Pancake Day is here. Today 17th February is Shrove Day or Pancake Day as it is called in many countries around the world. It’s the day before Lent. This day is typically celebrated by eating pancakes or other kinds of ‘’fatty’’ foods. In some countries around the world this day is called Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras which means Fat Tuesday in French. This holiday used to be a pagan holiday like most holidays in Europe usually are. The Slavs (an Indo-European ethno-linguistics group) believed that the change between the seasons was a struggle between their gods, the god of fertility, springtime and vegetation. Jarilo was the spirits of the cold and darkness. People used to believe that they had to help Jarilo, so during a festivity called Shrovetide the tradition was to eat pancakes because it represented the sun. The Slavs thought it would bring the power of light and warmth like the sun. On the first day of Shrovetide they put a pancake on the window sill for their ancestral spirits and during the last day they burned different kinds of food as a sacrifice for their gods.
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