Pancake day falling flat in Britain

LONDON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- It appears Britons are on the road to abandoning their centuries-old custom of flipping pancakes 47 days before Easter Sunday.

Only one in five people surveyed by a firm that sells flour knew Feb. 5 is Shrove Tuesday when tradition calls for pancakes to be eaten, The Guardian reported Monday.

The observance gets its name from the ritual of shriving or confessing and being forgiven for sins.

Flipping pancakes on Shrove Tuesday dates back to the 17th century while recipes for pancakes can be found in cookbooks as early as the 15th century.

The British supermarket chain Morrisons estimates as many as 5 million people in the United Kingdom have never made a pancake and have no idea what ingredients to use.

"Pancakes have been part of our culinary and social history for half a millennia," says Sandra Clegg of Morrisons, "It would be a shame if making them was consigned to the history books."