didn't have pancakes this year but remembered having them in a rented house a few years ago, dug up the old photo. Shrove Tuesday was the day to use up all the eggs and milk before Lent began. Eggs, milk and meat used to be forbidden during Lent many hundreds of years ago for Christians. And even when people went back to eating these during Lent the tradition remained
By the time of the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74), eggs, milk, and meat were all forbidden during Lent: "Eggs and milk foods are forbidden to those who fast, for as much as they originate from animals that provide us with flesh … Again the Lenten fast is the most solemn of all, both because it is kept in imitation of Christ, and because it disposes us to celebrate devoutly the mysteries of our redemption. For this reason the eating of flesh meat is forbidden in every fast, while the Lenten fast lays a general prohibition even on eggs and milk foods."
source: https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2010/february/how-fast-of-lent-gave-us-easter-eggs.html
