What's the origin of pancake day?

Vonhelmet · 1 Mar 2006 at 13:17

Not that anyone cares, being as it's now Ash wednesday but...

My wife reminded me that the origin of pancake day is actually Jewish. It stems from the celebration of the passover when the Jews had to eat up all their leven (yeast and stuff) before the flight from Egypt. That's why they had to eat pancakes. It's since been absorbed into Christianity and lent/Easter.

Dinomania · 1 Mar 2006 at 13:26

Cool so if I give up alchy for Lent, then I can have a tipple on Sundays and still celebrate St Patrick's? Lovely

tenchi-fan · 1 Mar 2006 at 13:52

sara said:
Cool so if I give up alchy for Lent, then I can have a tipple on Sundays and still celebrate St Patrick's? Lovely

Just because children break lent on Sundays doesn't mean you have to.

Dinomania · 1 Mar 2006 at 13:53

tenchi-fan said:
Just because children break lent on Sundays doesn't mean you have to.

Just because children do it doesn't mean adults aren't allowed to

tenchi-fan · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:03

vonhelmet said:
My wife reminded me that the origin of pancake day is actually Jewish. It stems from the celebration of the passover when the Jews had to eat up all their leven (yeast and stuff) before the flight from Egypt. That's why they had to eat pancakes. It's since been absorbed into Christianity and lent/Easter.

Sure it is. And they invented Christmas too

Dj_Jestar · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:12

tenchi-fan said:
Sure it is. And they invented Christmas too

Happy Hanukkah?

Jesus was a Jew btw..

Dinomania · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:15

Hrrm, back in the days when I used to go to Sunday school, I remember being taught about Passover and unlevened bread etc - And there was definitely a line drawn from that to Shrove Tuesday/Lent and back into Jesus in the wilderness.

People seem to forget that Christianity basically *is* Judaism, but Christians follow Jesus as the Messiah - while the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to come along

Amleto · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:32

sara said:
Hrrm, back in the days when I used to go to Sunday school, I remember being taught about Passover and unlevened bread etc - And there was definitely a line drawn from that to Shrove Tuesday/Lent and back into Jesus in the wilderness.

People seem to forget that Christianity basically *is* Judaism, but Christians follow Jesus as the Messiah - while the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to come along

so there's the whole New Testament that's different then really.

Dinomania · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:37

Amleto said:
so there's the whole New Testament that's different then really.

Well yes. Look at your Bible though, the New Testament is much less than half of the thing. So Christians share a LOT with the Jews. And they see Jesus as a prophet anyway - so a lot of his teaching (and hence some of the New Testament) is relevant to them as well.

Vonhelmet · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:44

sara said:
Hrrm, back in the days when I used to go to Sunday school, I remember being taught about Passover and unlevened bread etc - And there was definitely a line drawn from that to Shrove Tuesday/Lent and back into Jesus in the wilderness.

People seem to forget that Christianity basically *is* Judaism, but Christians follow Jesus as the Messiah - while the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to come along

Aye. Christianity is essentially the fulfilment of Judaism.

cleanbluesky · 1 Mar 2006 at 14:45

vonhelmet said:
Aye. Christianity is essentially the fulfilment of Judaism.

fulfilment? What does it fulfil or was that just an attempt to suggest Christianity is more legitimate than Judaism?

Vonhelmet · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:00

cleanbluesky said:
fulfilment? What does it fulfil or was that just an attempt to suggest Christianity is more legitimate than Judaism?

It fulfils the Jewish wait for the Messiah.

Honestly, I'm surprised that you of all people should ask something like that.

Dinomania · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:03

vonhelmet said:
It fulfils the Jewish wait for the Messiah.

It has been said (in a bumper-sticker style joke) that "Judaism: Higher Messianic Standards" - so bluntly, Jesus wasn't good enough for them, but A-Okay for the Christians!

Amleto · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:04

sara said:
Well yes. Look at your Bible though, the New Testament is much less than half of the thing. So Christians share a LOT with the Jews. And they see Jesus as a prophet anyway - so a lot of his teaching (and hence some of the New Testament) is relevant to them as well.

I don't think jews do see Jesus as a prohpet, and probably don't recognise any of his teachings, hence the total lack of the NT in the Torah.

Dinomania · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:08

Well the NT is heavily biased towards Jesus being the Son of God, so they couldn't include the NT without heavy edits anyway.

But the Torah is actually only the first 5 books of the Bible, isn't it?

Amleto · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:52

sara said:
Well the NT is heavily biased towards Jesus being the Son of God, so they couldn't include the NT without heavy edits anyway.

But the Torah is actually only the first 5 books of the Bible, isn't it?

I thought it was the whole OT? :confused:

Dinomania · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:56

Nope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers (that one's very dull) and Deuteronomy.

Amleto · 1 Mar 2006 at 15:59

**** Mass generalisation contained in this post ****

Wow. Considering Leviticus makes up 20% of their religious text, the jews turned out quite well.

:shrug:

Vonhelmet · 1 Mar 2006 at 16:02

sara said:
Nope.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers (that one's very dull) and Deuteronomy.

The first part of numbers (the actual numbers bit) is indeed pretty dull, but it picks up after that.

Mr Jack · 1 Mar 2006 at 16:38

Amleto said:
Wow. Considering Leviticus makes up 20% of their religious text, the jews turned out quite well.

The Torah is not the whole of the Jewish Religious texts, you want the Tanach.