English pancake race

English pancake race

The majority of New Zealanders have English, Scottish or Irish ancestry. Their forebears may have arrived several generations ago, but some British traditions are still reflected in popular culture. The Shrove Tuesday pancake race is part of the Easter festival in England; the custom of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday (before Ash Wednesday) arose because eggs and fat, forbidden during the fast of Lent, had to be eaten up. The event pictured here could well be in an English village, but in fact was photographed in the Wellington suburb of Island Bay.