{"id":971,"date":"2023-02-20T13:02:10","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T13:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/?p=971"},"modified":"2023-03-07T17:45:26","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T17:45:26","slug":"celebrate-mother-language-day-with-a-pancake-or-crepe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2023\/02\/20\/celebrate-mother-language-day-with-a-pancake-or-crepe\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Mother Language Day with a pancake or cr\u00eape"},"content":{"rendered":"

21 February 2023 is <\/span><\/span>International Mother Language Day<\/span><\/span><\/a>, as well as Pancake Day in the UK and Mardi Gras in <\/span>many French-speaking countries<\/span>. What\u00a0<\/span>batter<\/span>*<\/span>\u00a0way to celebrate than for French Teaching Fellow Rachel Los to explain more about the festivals in English and French?<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Pancake Day<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday (1), falls 47 days before Easter. It is often thought to be a Christian festival, but its origins are actually pagan. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Ancient Rome, according to the Roman lunar calendar, the Calends (2) of March marked the start of the new year, and so wild parties were held and normally forbidden behaviour was permitted. People wore disguises and ate and drank without restraint to celebrate the renewal of nature and the year ahead. These festivities are the origin of the carnival traditions celebrated in many countries around the world. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u202f<\/span>The tradition was later adapted by the Catholic Church to mark the end of the period preceding Lent, or 40 days of penance and privations leading up to Easter.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pancake Day was the last opportunity for people to use up their reserves of eggs, butter, and winter stocks of meat, and eat everything they would be deprived of for several weeks during the meagre period of Lent.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is interesting to note that the word \u2018carnival\u2019 comes from the Latin \u2018carne levare\u2019, or \u2018remove meat\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, across the Channel in France, and in other French-speaking countries, this day is known as \u2018Mardi Gras\u2019, literally \u2018Fat Tuesday\u2019, when young and old dress up and overindulge on cr\u00eapes, doughnuts or waffles... <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mardi Gras<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Le 21 f\u00e9vrier de cette ann\u00e9e, beaucoup d'entre nous f\u00eateront le Mardi Gras, quand petits et grands se d\u00e9guisent et se r\u00e9galent de cr\u00eapes, de beignets ou de gaufres.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On pense souvent que le Mardi Gras est une f\u00eate chr\u00e9tienne, mais en r\u00e9alit\u00e9, ses origines sont pa\u00efennes.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dans l\u2019Antiquit\u00e9 romaine, selon le calendrier lunaire, les Calendes de mars marquaient le d\u00e9but de la nouvelle ann\u00e9e, et les gens participaient \u00e0 des f\u00eates d\u00e9brid\u00e9es o\u00f9 les transgressions \u00e9taient permises, on portait des d\u00e9guisements et mangeait plus que de raison, pour c\u00e9l\u00e9brer le renouveau de la nature et l'ann\u00e9e \u00e0 venir.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ces festivit\u00e9s sont \u00e0 l'origine des traditions carnavalesques dans de nombreux pays du monde.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u202f<\/span><\/i>La tradition a ensuite \u00e9t\u00e9 adopt\u00e9e par l'\u00c9glise catholique et utilis\u00e9e pour marquer la fin de la p\u00e9riode pr\u00e9c\u00e9dant le Car\u00eame, c\u2019est \u00e0 dire 40 jours de p\u00e9nitence et de privations avant P\u00e2ques.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Le Mardi Gras \u00e9tait la derni\u00e8re occasion pour les gens d'\u00e9puiser leurs r\u00e9serves d'\u0153ufs et de beurre et de manger tout ce dont ils seraient priv\u00e9s pendant plusieurs semaines pendant la p\u00e9riode \u00ab\u202fmaigre\u202f\u00bb du Car\u00eame.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Il est int\u00e9ressant de noter que le mot \u2018Carnaval\u2019 vient du latin \u2018carne levare\u2019, ou \u2018enlever la viande\u2019.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you celebrate Pancake Day, Mardi Gras or something similar in your culture? What is this day called in the language you speak? Tell us in the comments!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether you celebrate with a pancake or <\/span>une cr\u00eape<\/span><\/i> on 21 February, bon app\u00e9tit!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Very bad joke! For anyone unfamiliar with the word, \u2018batter\u2019 is the liquid mixture of flour, eggs, and milk, used to make pancakes. It\u2019s very similar to the word \u2018better\u2019. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(1) Shrove is the past tense of the word shrive, which means to present oneself to a priest for confession, penance, and absolution. The day, being the day before the Lent fast begins, is for people to gain penance from God before they begin fasting. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(2) Calends means first day. The English word \u2018calendar\u2019 comes from this word.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo credit: RitaE on Pixabay.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21 February 2023 is International Mother Language Day, as well as Pancake Day in the UK and Mardi Gras in many French-speaking countries. What\u00a0batter*\u00a0way to celebrate than for French Teaching Fellow Rachel Los to explain more about the festivals in...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1438,"featured_media":972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[59,175],"tags":[248,222,249,246,245,247,244],"class_list":["post-971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-languages","category-intercultural-competency","tag-crepe","tag-french","tag-international-festivals","tag-international-mother-language-day","tag-mardi-gras","tag-pancake","tag-pancake-day"],"acf":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":544,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/academic-and-employability-skills\/2021\/02\/16\/happy-international-mother-language-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":971,"position":0},"title":"Happy International Mother Language Day!","author":"Kerry Vevers","date":"February 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"21 February is International Mother Language Day, a day observed annually since 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. 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