The origin of Shrove Tuesday comes from the idea of - the night before Lent begins - consuming everything in the household from which one planned to abstain during Lent. We serve pancakes to connect us to the customs of a time when flour, eggs, milk, butter and other food items were all on the Lenten abstinence list. These days we celebrate the evening before Ash Wednesday more as a foretaste of the feast to come at Easter.