[Chipper]

Originally posted by robert@fm
Not really paradoxical:

1) Shrove Tuesday (aka Mardi Gras (literally "Fat Tuesday"), at least in Latin America) is what's called "Pancake Day" in the UK, and is always 47 days before Easter; it was thus March 4 in 2003, and is February 20 this year.  Next year it will be February 5.

2) Theoretically, there's nothing to stop anyone declaring any day they like as "Pancake Day", just as the US celebrates "Mother's Day" on a date other than Mothering Sunday, which is 21 days before Easter.  Because of the way UK bank holidays work, some people in the UK still refer to the last Monday in May as "Whitsun", although it seldom actually is (Whit Monday is the 50th day after Easter, which this year coincidentally happens to be the 28th of May; but it usually doesn't work out that way).

Thanks for the explanation, help me understand the paradox (or lack thereof).

Originally posted by robert@fm
Interesting site.

Thanks!