Life in the UK Explained

Easter and Lent: pancakes, ashes and chocolate eggs

Story 2 of 6

Easter comes in March or April. It remembers Jesus dying on Good Friday and coming back to life on Easter Sunday. Good Friday and Easter Monday, the day after Easter Sunday, are both public holidays.

Why does the date move? The Church's rule is that Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March, so it can fall on any date from 22 March to 25 April.

The 40 days before Easter are called Lent. For Christians it's a time to think about their lives and get ready for Easter. In the past people fasted (ate very little) during Lent. Today many people give up just one thing instead, such as a food they love.

The day before Lent is Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. People eat pancakes because, long ago, making them was a way to finish the eggs, fat and milk in the house before the fast. Lent starts the next day, on Ash Wednesday. At church that day, Christians receive a cross drawn in ash on their forehead, a sign of death and of being sorry for their sins.

Some towns turn Pancake Day into a race. The pancake race in Olney, a town in Buckinghamshire, is said to date back to 1445: the story goes that one Shrove Tuesday a housewife heard the church bell and ran all the way to church still holding her frying pan, pancake and all. It's only a local legend, and no records from the time prove it.

  1. TueShrove Tuesday (Pancake Day): the day before Lent; time for pancakes
  2. WedAsh Wednesday: Lent begins; an ash cross on the forehead
  3. 40 daysLent: a time to reflect and prepare; people used to fast, and now many give one thing up
  4. 3 weeksMothering Sunday: the Sunday three weeks before Easter
  5. FriGood Friday: remembers Jesus's death; a public holiday
  6. SunEaster Sunday: celebrates Jesus rising from the dead
  7. MonEaster Monday: a public holiday

People who aren't religious celebrate Easter too. The favourite part for many is Easter eggs: eggs made of chocolate that people give each other, as a sign of new life.

A thin pancake sprinkled with sugar on a plate, with a slice of lemon and a fork
British pancakes are thin. The classic way to eat them is with sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. Photo: Rainbow chaser, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Quiz

What is the name of the day before Lent begins, when many people eat pancakes?

Quiz

Is the statement below TRUE or FALSE? Good Friday celebrates Jesus rising from the dead, and Easter Sunday marks his death.

Chapter contents: Customs and Traditions