On one Tuesday in February or March, which coincides with «fat» Tuesday, the hearty holiday — International Pancake Day is celebrated, which is especially popular in England and America.
In the United States, the first pancake festival took place in Kansas in 1950. But in the English town of Olney it has been held for more than 500 years.
It started when one day during Lent one of the townspeople was secretly frying pancakes in her kitchen. Suddenly there was a ringing of bells. The poor housewife was so scared that, forgetting about everything in the world, she rushed to church... right with a frying pan in her hands and pancakes grumbling on it. This was in 1445.
Since then, citizens have been organizing an annual race with — pancakes; women, always in dresses and aprons, must run a certain distance by tossing a pancake in a frying pan.
A similar tradition exists at Westminster School in London — a pancake baked with horsehair to prevent it from falling apart is tossed in a frying pan.
So in Albee and Liberal, women run through the streets every year with frying pans in their hands, turning over pancakes as they run. And the winner’s reward is a bell ringer’s kiss, honor and respect.
Well, pancakes that did not fall from the pans during the races are then eaten together by the audience.
For reference: in the West, thick pancakes are called pancakes, which is usually translated into Russian as pancakes. And thin pancakes — crepes.