Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday, is a 1) c...where people nowadays have a lot of pancakes. This day has a 2) r... origin. First we would need to explain the concept of Lent. Lent is the time of year when Christians prepare for Easter. Lent begins in February or March, depending 3)... the date of Easter. The word Lent comes from an older English word meaning spring. During Lent, many Christians fast, or go without regular meals. They do this in memory of Jesus Christ, 4) ... is said to have fasted for 40 days in the desert.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is the day just after Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day). Of course, people would not go hungry for 40 days but it became a 6) t... to do something such as, not doing something that you enjoyed, or stop eating something during these days. So, it became a tradition to avoid food such as, butter, eggs and milk for forty days. Due to this, people needed to use up all their 7) i... before the period of Lent began. On this day, housewives used up all the products that would be banned and, what better way than making piles of pancakes?  

8) ... Pancake Day, not only do people eat pancakes, but it is also usual to see towns hosting pancake races.  The race is open to everybody  and consists in people running with a frying pan in their hand flipping a pancake all the way to the finishing line. 

The most 10) f... pancake race, at Olney in Buckinghamshire, has been held 11) ... 1445. No one is quite certain of how the world famous Pancake Race at Olney orininated, but one story tells of a worried housewife, who on hearing the church bell to go to Shrive Tuesday Mass, went running to the Church with her frying pan in her hand flipping the pancake all the way!  After that, pancake races gradually became a  tradition in some towns. On some 12) ...these races have not been celebrated for many years like during the world wars, but 13) n... they are very 14) p.... 

  Hmmm! All that talking about pancakes has 15) m.. me hungry. I think I'll make some pancakes now.