Pancake Day Quiz (Questions only)

1. The word "Shrove" in Shrove Tuesday comes from the old verb "to shrive". What did it mean?

2. Shrove Tuesday moves every year because it depends on the date of Easter. What are the earliest and latest possible dates it can fall on?

3. On what date does Shrove Tuesday fall in 2027?

4. Lent is traditionally 40 days long, but Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday is 46 days. Why the difference?

5. In parts of England, the day before Shrove Tuesday was traditionally called "Collop Monday". What was a collop?

6. "Mardi Gras" is the French name for Shrove Tuesday. What does it literally mean, and what are the three official colours of the New Orleans Mardi Gras?

7. The world's most famous pancake race is said to date back to 1445. In which town is it run, and in which county?

8. Since 1950, the women of that town have raced against the women of a town in the United States, comparing their times. Which US town, in which state?

9. What must runners in that race wear, and what must they do with their pancake at both the start and the finish?

10. At a famous London school, a cook tosses a large pancake reinforced with horsehair over a high iron bar on Shrove Tuesday, and pupils scramble for the biggest piece. Name the school, and the name of the tradition.

11. In Ashbourne, Derbyshire, a huge, rough ball game is played through the town on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. What are the two teams called?

12. In Iceland, Shrove Tuesday is called "Sprengidagur", when people eat salted meat and pea soup. What does "Sprengidagur" mean in English?

13. In Sweden, Shrove Tuesday is the traditional day for eating a cream-filled cardamom bun. What is the bun called, and which Swedish king is said to have died in 1771 after a huge feast that ended with many of them?

14. In Russia, a week-long festival before Lent is celebrated with stacks of thin pancakes and the burning of a straw effigy. Name the festival, and the Russian word for these pancakes.

15. In Brittany, savoury pancakes called "galettes" are made from a flour that is not wheat at all, despite its French name meaning "black wheat". Which flour?

16. What is the more usual British name for a "Scotch pancake"?

17. What are the tiny, puffy Dutch pancakes, often served with butter and icing sugar, called?

18. The Ethiopian spongy flatbread injera is made from the flour of which tiny grain?

19. Crêpes Suzette are pancakes served in a sauce of butter, sugar and which flavour of liqueur? And which future king is the dish said to have been named in front of?

20. Latkes are fried pancakes eaten during the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. What is their main ingredient?