Please explain the money in pancakes

Karen

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Mar 4, 2003, 2:52:38 PM3/4/03

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Growing up we always had money in our pancakes on Pancake Day. I've been
telling some American friends about this and they've never heard of putting
money in pancakes, although they do eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday as we do.

I looked on the internet and can find no mention of this tradition. Is it a
British, Canadian or Newfoundland tradition? Does anyone know when and where
it started? Better yet, can you give me a website explaining it for my
American friends?

Thanks,
-Karen

Debbie Rothman

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Mar 4, 2003, 3:06:16 PM3/4/03

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>I looked on the internet and can find no mention of this tradition. Is it a
>British, Canadian or Newfoundland tradition? Does anyone know when and where
>it started? Better yet, can you give me a website explaining it for my
>American friends?

Yes. Inquiring minds want to know.

Debbie Rothman
Brooklyn, NY

Bill Hunt / Jennifer Budden

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Mar 4, 2003, 3:12:16 PM3/4/03

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I think the objects were to foretell the future, eg:

money- you'll be rich, or marry rich
wedding band- next to marry
screw/nail- marry a carpenter
button- marry a tailor

I know there are more, that's all my family put in. I read somewhere about a
piece of straw, although I have no idea what that was for.

Folklorists?

Debbie Rothman

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Mar 4, 2003, 3:23:13 PM3/4/03

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Sounds interesting about the money/objects. But actually, I would like an
explanation of the whole custom of eating pancakes. Is there some sort of
religious significance or did it just become customary?

Debbie Rothman
Brooklyn, NY

The Googster

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Mar 4, 2003, 3:17:46 PM3/4/03

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You have just money? I think its sort of a fortune telling thing...money
means you'll be rich (obviously)
Other things in pancakes...
Button: you'll be a tailor
Toothpick: carpenter
Ring: Married
Cross: Clergy
etc....

"Karen" <karen...@warp.nfld.net> wrote in message
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scott

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Mar 4, 2003, 3:31:18 PM3/4/03

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Pancake Night, or Shrove Tuesday, is typical of Newfoundland calendar
customs. Derived from widespread customs in European traditions, and
shaped as much by religious beliefs as by traditional divinational
activities, it is a mixture of traditions, evolving continuously. Shrove
Tuesday (named for the religious practice of confessing one's sins and
being "shriven" or "shrove" by the priest immediately before Lent began)
was a time to use up as many as possible of the foods banned during
Lent: meat products in particular, including butter and eggs. Pancakes
were a simple way to use these foods, and one that could entertain the
family. Objects with symbolic value are cooked in the pancakes, and
those who eat them, especially children, take part in a divinatory game
as part of the meal. The person who receives each item interprets the
gift according to the tradition: a coin means the person finding it will
be rich; a pencil stub means he/she will be a teacher; a holy medal
means they will join a religious order; a nail that they will be (or
marry) a carpenter, and so on (cf. Hiscock 1990:9).
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/society/custom.html

Karen

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Mar 4, 2003, 4:03:51 PM3/4/03

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Thanks!

"scott" <hardt...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Karen

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Mar 4, 2003, 4:05:28 PM3/4/03

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Pancake day came about because Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent.
It was customary to use up all the "fat" in the kitchen (eggs, butter, milk,
etc) before Lent, when those things were given up. So people made pancakes.
This tradition goes back hundreds of years.

-Karen

"Debbie Rothman" <rotht...@aol.com> wrote in message
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M.C. Tee

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Mar 4, 2003, 6:19:47 PM3/4/03

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alcoholic?

heh

"Alan" <aand...@thezone.net> wrote in message
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> I used to get a Jockey Club beer bottle cap?
>
> lol

>
>
> "scott" <hardt...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:q289a.6636$0W6.1...@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...

Alan

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Mar 4, 2003, 6:14:26 PM3/4/03

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I used to get a Jockey Club beer bottle cap?

lol

"scott" <hardt...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Voigt Lander

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Mar 5, 2003, 1:45:23 PM3/5/03

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It was needed with large families, and no birth control. The hidden
coins where intented to chock unsuspecting persons and thereby reduce
the size of the family leaving enough food for the rest to live
through the middle of the winter when food was short, and no supplies
could be bought due to the winter freeze up. The coins could be later
retrieved, so no actual expense was incured.

~d

"M.C. Tee" <tedw...@NOSPAM.roadrunner.nf.net> wrote in message news:<b43c9o$ksc$1...@nntp-stjh-01-01.rogers.nf.net>...

karen.g

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Mar 5, 2003, 4:42:54 PM3/5/03

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Does anyone else smell shit?
karen

voig...@netscape.net (Voigt Lander) wrote in message news:<3b89567.03030...@posting.google.com>...

Debbie Rothman

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Mar 6, 2003, 4:08:25 PM3/6/03

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>It was needed with large families, and no birth control. The hidden
>coins where intented to chock unsuspecting persons and thereby reduce
>the size of the family leaving enough food for the rest to live
>through the middle of the winter when food was short, and no supplies
>could be bought due to the winter freeze up. The coins could be later
>retrieved, so no actual expense was incured.
>

I didn't see any smiley, but I do hope and assume you were kidding. I
cannot reconcile this interpretation with what I understand of Newfoundland
culture.

Debbie Rothman
Brooklyn, NY

gush...@gmail.com

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Mar 2, 2019, 11:57:49 AM3/2/19

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So ... as a born Newfoundlander, I can assure you that the "Pancake Day" ritual of hiding items in pancakes was not to reduce the population! (In fact large families were one way of ensuring survival in a subsistence economy)

Patrick Gushue
Oakville Ontario

jsw...@gmail.com

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Mar 2, 2019, 5:38:06 PM3/2/19

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Ok

dgg...@gmail.com

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Mar 6, 2019, 6:20:10 PM3/6/19

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I mentioned this in a group I'm in on Facebook. Got some cool answers. This practice is very popular amongst Newfoundlanders. So I assume its an old Irish tradition. Apparently different objects you find will depict the vocation of the one you marry or for males what your vocation will be. A button?...tailor. Money?...banker. Piece if wood?...carpenter.

dgg...@gmail.com

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Mar 6, 2019, 6:30:32 PM3/6/19

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Christians celebrated the day before lent as being a day of seeking atonement. The priest would shrive you. Absolve you of sins. Lent is a time when Christians are supposed to give up on the excesses of life. Like sweets and fats. Therefore the night before Ash Wednesday...Shrove Tuesday.(Shrove derived from shrive) people would clean out the cupboards to prepare for lent. Instead of throwing out the food they would make pancakes. The money thing came later. It us said what you got in your pancake depicted who you would marry. Button...tailer. Money...banker. Wood...carpenter.