February through April is the perfect time to enjoy a short stack of your favorite take on the humble pancake!

Short Stack

The cheery noise of bubbling pancake batter was as plainly heard as the singing teakettle every morning of the year in our house. I often lifted the cover of the batter crock to look at the bubbles, which reminded me of the eyes of animals.

Ulysses Prentiss Hedrick
American botanist, horticulturalist, and writer
1870—1951
The Land of the Crooked Tree
 

Excerpted from Ian Makay’s Food for Thought: The Pleasures of the Table: Primi Piatti

 

Short Stack

Not that we need a special occasion to eat pancakes and suchlike hot off the griddle, but February kicks off a glorious series of holidays that actually glorify the practice.

 

Candlemas
February 2, 2025

As a first (if premature) celebration of spring, the winter-weary French enjoy crêpes, a sweet symbol of renewal, family, and hope for the future. Wishes are said to come true when they’re made while holding a coin in one hand, flipping a crêpe with the other.

 

Maslenitza
February 24 thru March 2, 2025

Before the coming of Christianity to Russia in 988 A.D., Maslenitza (or Butter Week) honored Jarila, the sun god. It later became a Russian Orthodox pre-Lenten celebration, and finally the week-long secular holiday it is today. In this case the “pancakes” are delicate blini, topped with melted butter, hard-cooked eggs, sour cream, smoked fish, and caviar—all the indulgent works.

 

Shrove Tuesday
March 4, 2025

Also known as Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, and Bannock Day. Pancakes were deemed a practical means of using up eggs, milk, and butter before the Lenten fast. In Great Britain, footraces are held in honor of a woman who allegedly once sprinted to church clutching a frying pan and a half-cooked pancake for fear of being late for Mass.

 

Vårfrudagen
March 25, 2025

Literally “Our Lady’s Day” (although now also punningly called Våffeldagen or Waffle Day), Vårfrudagen honors the Feast of the Annunciation and is celebrated in Sweden* with special waffles that are heart-shaped, to symbolize the heart of the Virgin Mary.

 

Mimouna or Maimuna
Begins the evening of April 19 and into the evening of April 20, 2025

At the end of Passover, Jews in Morocco** reconnect with their neighbors by traveling from house to house eating muflita—crispy pancakes rolled up with butter and honey—and other sweets.

 

                

This article is reprinted as it appeared (with the addition of this year’s dates) in the Saveur January/February 1999 print edition; was later reprinted in the Saveur digital edition; and cited in “Making Pancakes A Family Affair” in the February 18, 1999, of The Lakeland Ledger—a New York Times Regional Newspaper.

*Waffle Day is also celebrated in Norway and Denmark.

**Mimouna is also celebrated by Maghrebi Jews in Israel, France, Canada, the United States, and other places around the world.

 

                             

How About YOU! 

Have a favorite late-winter, early-spring, Lenten pancake or other holiday tradition or story? How about a favorite recipe for any of the pancake or waffle celebrations mentioned in this article or maybe just one for any time of the year?

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