Shrove Tuesday facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Shrove Tuesday
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (detail), 1559
Observed by	Followers of many Christian denominations (including the Orthodox churches) and by common custom
Type	Christian
Date	In seventh week before Easter, day before Ash Wednesday
2023 date	February 21
2024 date	February 13
2025 date	March 4
2026 date	February 17
Frequency	Annual
Related to	Ash Wednesday Fat Thursday Mardi Gras

Shrove Tuesday is a term used in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, The United States and Australia for the day before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the first day of the Christian season of prayer and fasting called Lent.

On Shrove Tuesday people traditionally cook and eat pancakes. The reason for this was to use up foods such as fat, eggs and milk before Lent.

It is also called Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day. In some other countries, such as the United States it is called Mardi Gras.

In some cultures it has close ties with Mischief night.

Images for kids

Russian artist Boris Kustodiev's Maslenitsa (1916)
Shrove Tuesday, Bear guiding [pl] in Poland (1950)
On Shrove Tuesday, many Christians confess their sins, in preparation for Lent; depicted is an Evangelical Lutheran confessional in Luther Church (Helsinki, Finland)
Football match in the 1846 Shrove Tuesday in Kingston upon Thames, England
A pancake race in Olney, Buckinghamshire, 2009