Races in England

Part I

In England there is a day for pancakes. It is usually in March. At home, families have pancakes for dinner. At school, the children and teachers have pancakes for school dinner.

You know that pancakes are very good to eat, but do you know that in England people race with pancakes, fight for them...?

In some villages and towns in England, there is a pancake race every year. Mothers of families run these races. First, they must make the pancake and then run four hundred metres with the pancake on the frying-pan in their hands. When they are running this race, they must throw the pancake up three times and catch it on the frying-pan. They must not drop it.

The fathers and the children watch the mothers and call out to them: “Run, mum, run quickly!”

At some universities and colleges, students run pancake races too. They run with their pancakes on the frying-pans and throw them up.

If the university or college is near the sea, there are swimming pancake races. The students take their frying-pans with the pancakes into the cold water and swim with them. They hold the frying-pan in one hand. They must also throw the pancake up and catch it on the pan.

Part II

At Westminster School in London, the boys have pancakes for dinner one day in March. But before dinner, there is the pancake fight. The school cook makes a very large pancake. Then he comes out of the kitchen into the hall with the frying-pan and throws the pancake high up. The boys (one from each form) try to catch the pancake.

They fight for it. The winner of the fight is the boy who gets the biggest piece of pancake.

In England, there is also an egg-and-spoon race. People who run this race — men and women, boys and girls — must carry an egg in a spoon. They must not let it fall down. If the egg falls and breaks, they must pick it up with the spoon, not with their fingers. Usually, there are not many winners in the egg-and-spoon race.

In the three-legged race, boys or girls run in pairs, with the right leg of one boy or girl tied to the left leg of the other. They don't run very quickly because they don't want to fall. The people who watch the egg-and-spoon race and the three-legged race always laugh very much.