13 February - Tuesday
Mardi Gras - "Fat Tuesday"
Mardi Gras - in literal translation from French, this sonorous phrase means "fat Tuesday" or even "fast Tuesday" (English Shrove Tuesday). The holiday is celebrated in many countries of the world on Tuesday, before the Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Catholic Great Lent preceding Easter. This is a noisy and cheerful holiday, akin to the Russian Carnival, which is accompanied by folk festivals, carnivals, mass and lush celebrations. The holiday is preceded by long and careful preparations. Mistresses buy products for tasty and satisfying dishes - for that and "fat Tuesday". On the day of the carnival from the kitchens delicious appetizing smells of pancakes - what carnival without pancakes ?!
There is only one "but" - "Mardi Gras" should be completed before midnight, before the onset of the environment. As, according to the legend: ... Once upon a time there lived in a village a written beauty Ros Latulip. On the day of the holiday, the cheerful company of dandies-boyfriends took and drove off Gabriel's daughters-beloved Roses. Deeply offended, Gabriel, holding his anger and jealousy in his heart, was forced to watch the dances from the side. Exactly one hour before midnight on the court suddenly a gloomy appearance arrogant stranger and invited to dance the beautiful Rose. A circle behind a circle of steam swept through the dance. It's faster and faster. Gabriel rushed into the darkness of the night. And there he stood, impatiently shifting in place and chopping sparks, black as a pitch escorted stranger. A flame burst from his nostrils. The snow melted around and smelt of sulfur. That was the devil, and the stranger turned out to be Satan himself! When the hands of the clock approached twelve, Rose no longer remembered herself, and the frenzy of the dance reached its limit. The eyes of Satan, full of triumph, sparkled. He knew that if he could keep the girl in dance until the last stroke of the clock announcing the coming of a new day, another soul would be in his power. But insidious schemes were not destined to come true. In the remaining seconds Gabriel broke through the crowd of stunned revelers and snatched the unfortunate Rose from Satan's tenacious hands ...
International pancake day
On one Tuesday in February or March, which coincides with the "fat" Tuesday, there is a hearty holiday - International Pancake Day, which is especially popular in England and America.
In the US, 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 began with the fact that somehow during Lent one of the townsfolk secretly fried pancakes in her kitchen. Suddenly there was a bell ringing. The poor housewife was so frightened that, forgetting everything in the world, she rushed to the church ... directly with a frying pan in her hands and crepes flirting on her. This was in 1445.
Since then, the townspeople organize an annual race with pancakes - women, certainly in dresses and aprons, must run a certain distance, throwing a pancake in a pan. A similar tradition exists in the Westminster School in London - a pancake baked with horse hair so that it does not fall apart, throw in a frying pan, and then the students try to grab a bigger piece. So in Albi and Liberal, women run around the streets each year with pans in their hands, turning over pancakes while running. A reward to the winner is the kiss of the bell ringer, honor and respect. Well, and pancakes, which did not fall off the pans during the race, then amicably eaten by the audience. For your information: in the West, thick pancakes are called pancakes, which in Russian is usually translated as pancakes. And thin crepes are crepes.
World Radio Day
1720 By the Decree of Peter I the Chief Magistrate - bureaucratic institution of Russia
1895 The beginning of world cinema: the brothers Lumiere patented the first movie camera
1988 Freestyle - ski all-around debuted in the program of the Olympic Games
1988 Short track - the debut of the short track shows at the Olympics took place