My son has been looking forward to Pancake Day for quite some time. That’s because he loves pancakes, and so I found a great but simple idea to make a Pancake Day breakfast he will be talking about for a very long time: crazy, colourful pancakes!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/28640147603413948/
So now that he is getting to that age where he is questioning everything he asked “What actually is Pancake Day?” I needed a quick and simple explanation, and so this is what I told him:
Pancake Day is traditionally a day of fun and partying. People eat pancakes to use up leftover rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar. This is because the next day they will eat plainer foods and avoid foods such as meat, dairy, or eggs. This is called fasting during 40 days of Lent.
Pancake Day is celebrated in many other parts of the world, it’s just called differently. Carneval is a word that means “Goodbye to the meat”. In Brazil, Carnival is their most famous holiday and people all over the world go there to experience the music, dancing, the parades and the costumes . The Venetian Carnival is very famous for its beautiful masks. Even in The Netherlands, where I come from, we celebrate Karneval and I remember having lots of fun when I was younger. “So which party are we going to, mummy?” my son asked.
What had him in fits of laughter is that in France, people call it “Fat Tuesday”, Mardi Gras. And in the old days they would parade a fat ox around the streets of Paris.
In some parts of the Unites States where French people have had a large influence on the local culture, 
Mardi Gras is a big party and there are lots of parades, dancing, music events and picnics for people to have fun. People wear costumes and a mask with feathers, so people won’t know who they are, a little bit like Halloween.
There are big parade floats with beautiful colours and those on them throw beads, dubloons and stuffed animals to the people lining the streets. This practice started many years ago to celebrate the visit of the 3 kings to baby Jesus. Three colours are seen everywhere: Gold which stands for power, Purple which stands for Justice and Green for Faith.
So this is how we went from Pancakes to Mardi Gras masks, and thanks to toucanBox, I know a little boy that not only had fun flipping and tossing colourful pancakes in the air this morning, but also had lots of crafty fun making his own Mardi Gras mask!!!
We will be at Cupcake Family Club this afternoon making lots more Mardi Gras masks on Pancake Day!