| The following rhyme was used by the Cornish children during the evening and the following day Shrove Tuesday. Nicka nicka nan
Give me some pancake, and then I’ll be gone
But if you give me none
I’ll throw a great stone
And down your door shall come. In St Ives this was Give me a pancake, now–now–now,
Or I will souse in your door with a row–tow–tow. | Hall Monday: Pease Monday: Nickanan Night
This is the Monday before Lent in the British Isles. Youths play Nick Nack: a game where they knock on doors and run away, (Death knocks & is invisible). Pea soup and salt bacon are eaten. In Cornish villages a Jack-O-Lent straw figure is paraded through local communities, pelted with projectiles and then burned on a bonfire.Shrove Tuesday: Pancake Tuesday
(pron. SH-ROW-v TOO-z-DAY) The day before Lent in the British Isles is called Shrove Tuesday meaning Confession Tuesday. Sins are forgiven. A flat bread made of wheat flour, eggs, spice, and water called a pancake is eaten. In Brittany, France this is called a crêpe, containing hazelnut butter. Pancake races are held where women must run across a course with a frying pan, throwing pancakes into the air and catching them in the pan a specified number of times. A pancake bell is rung to kick off the event. The custom is over 400 years old. A satire describing pancake parties of 1622 featured: Protector of the PanCakes, First Founder of the Fritters, Baron of Bacon-flitch and the Earl of Egg-baskets. (2, 5) |
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