Tuesday 13 February 2018

Cats and Pancakes

Some of you will know that today is/was Shrove Tuesday in the UK, and that it is celebrated as "Pancake Day" in some areas, last but not least in Ripon. I learned about this and the traditional pancake race only last year from my friend George Pickles, former long-time Hornblower of Ripon, and told you about it in this post.

Admittedly, there was nothing happening in my life today that reminded me of Shrove Tuesday until I came home from work about an hour ago and did some ironing. Huh, I hear you say, what has ironing to do with Shrove Tuesday, or pancakes, for that matter? Nothing at all. But it has become my habit to listen to BBC Radio Four or BBC Radio York via the internet while ironing, and just as I was giving my beloved petrol green/blue Monsoon dress its hot steamy treatment, there was a short piece about Ripon's pancake race, held today. The Dean of Ripon's Cathedral was briefly interviewed, and here he is - photographed on Shrove Tuesday in 2016, the picture finding its way to me via George.


I hope everyone who was there to race or watch had fun! Three young members of the Chathedral's choir were also interviewed, and one very young sounding boy said that "it isn't a competition, but it's all about the community". I wonder whether he came up with that himself. When I was a little girl, I certainly would never had thought or said anything like it - when there was a competition of any kind, I would only feel like joining in when I was at least half way sure to win (and I could run real fast as a kid).

Speaking of me as a little girl, and it being the last day of Carnival in Germany today, here is the reason why "Cats" appear in the headline of this post.

As children, my sister and I used to love dressing up in carnival costumes this time of year, like all the children in our neighbourhood. Usually, there were carnival parties for children at schools, kindergardens and village or town halls. Our parents let us choose what we wanted to be, and you can imagine that Princess, Indian Squaw or Gypsy Lady were popular costumes for little girls.
When I was three and my sister four years old, I was determined I wanted to be Gestiefelter Kater (Puss-in-Boots), a character I knew from the fairytale books my parents read to us. A hat with cats' ears, a tail, a pair of black trousers, black top and little vest, all made to look like the stuff Puss was wearing in the books, was acquired. I wore my red wellies and felt absolutely great, like The Real Thing.

Until...
...yes, until I saw my sister's costume! She had opted for Sleeping Beauty, and our Grandma had made her the most beautiful princess dress I had ever seen in my life, out of glittery gold-pink fabric. She had a little crown, and a golden ribbon around her waist with tiny pink plastic roses tied in.

I am sure my jaw dropped when I saw it, and then of course, I wanted to look like her, be like her! Immediately!! Gone was my thrill at looking and feeling like a cat - now I wanted to be a princess, too.
Alas, there was only the one dress; we had made our choices, after all, and our costumes had been provided according to that.

I pulled all the stops, doing what a three-year-old can do so well: Throw a tantrum. Tantrum with a capital T! I cried, I refused to go out, I was nasty and angry and unpleasant and thoroughly horrible until...
...until my Mum unearthed an old, shabby petticoat from her wardrobe, one I am sure she had not been wearing since the late 1950s herself. It had tulle (even though it was REALLY shabby) - I saw the tulle, and pulled the old petticoat over my black pants. For a three-year-old, it came at floor length, and so it became my princess dress! I stopped crying, the cats' ears hat was taken off, the tail followed suit, and peace reigned again.

Seconds before The Tantrum
47 years later, I chose to be a cat again. This time, it was for the Costume Prize Ball at O.K.'s village. We went there last year, too, and it was my first carnival event in decades - carnival isn't a big thing in my part of the country, but it is MASSIVE where O.K. lives.
Last year, the motto was Fun Fair. This year, it was Walpurgis Night - so all things to do with witches and witchcraft were in order.

O.K. and I decided to go as Warlock and his Black Cat. I chose a very, very stylish and cool green satin robe for him, and he wore a pointed black hat and black clothes. My cat costume consisted of my usual black running pants, a black long-sleeved t-shirt I often wear, black fluffy knee socks and black shoes. I wore a black wig, black cats' ears and a black tail (which could have been longer, I think).


We had a lot of fun at the dance, and I never lost an ear or my tail - and I did NOT throw  a tantrum :-) But it was really very hot underneath the wig, especially when dancing. Now Carnival is as good as over, and I honestly won't miss it.

16 comments:

  1. Sleek like a panther. A sleek black cat. A cat with a knowing and rather mischievous smile.

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    1. When I watched "The Djungle Book" as a kid (the cartoon film), I loved Baghira, the black panther.

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  2. The weather for the pancake parade in Ripon would have been absolutely awful - it has snowed heavily all day until about three oclock when the sun came out and began to melt it.

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    1. They said on the radio that it was wet and cold and they weren't expecting many people to turn up, but about 10 minutes before the start of the race, they found the place was full of people having come to watch, whole families!

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  3. You look great as a black cat! Are black cats considered lucky or unlucky in Germany?
    In England, they stand for GOOD luck but in America, they are supposed to be bad luck-don't know why...no, take that back, I think I did but I forgot! LOL!
    I hope that George Pickles will read this post and see the photo of the Pancake race AND your photos of you as a cat (younger and older version!)
    Anyway, I LOVE the story of you and your sister and your costumes! That photo! No WONDER you "pitched a fit" wanting that gorgeous dress, I can't say I blame you! It was truly gorgeous.

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    1. In Germany, it depends on which way a black cat crosses your path; I don't know which way is which, but from left to right could be lucky while from right to left could be unlucky (or the other way round). It is so silly, isn't it!
      I hope that George is well, I have not heard from him in a while, but I also know that he and his wife are always so busy with family events and other things to do.
      The gorgeous dress became mine a couple of years later, when it would not fit my sister anymore, and our Grandma made a new one for her - this time of an all-silver fabric.

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  4. Aww, poor little Meike! That situation would be hard for any small girl to bear. :)

    I love the photo. You look just the same! What a cutie you were, even when on the verge of throwing a tantrum!!

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    1. Thank you, Jennifer! In hindsight, I think poor my parents, having to put up with my frequent tantrums - I was a rather headstrong kid (and can still be, when I'm in the mood).

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  5. Hello!!
    I hope your Valentine is as special to you as you are to me!
    Ryoma.

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    1. Huh? You must be mixing me up with someone else; sorry, I don't want to be impolite or rude, but I don't know you and can not imagine why I would be "special" to you.

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  6. This is such a fun post. I have never heard of a pancake race. One of my granddaughters always wanted to be a princess, but her sister wanted me to make a jellyfish costume for her. And so I did. Have you noticed how silly the calendar is this year? Valentine's Day is Ash Wednesday and April Fool's Day is the same as Easter. And you were a gorgeous cat this year.

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    1. Oh but you have heard of it before, Kristi - on last year's post about the pancake race (which is linked in this post), you commented, too :-)

      A jellyfish costume sounds fun!

      I must admit I had not noticed how Easter and April Fool's Day fall on the same day this year. As far as Valentine's Day is concerned, we don't "do" that day anyway, so it does not really make a difference to me that it happens to be on Ash Wednesday :-)

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  7. Gulp! I hope you won't mind me saying this but you looked sexy as a black cat! However, I agree your tail should have been longer - why you are almost a Manx cat!

    P.S. What is a Chathedral? (Please don't have a tantrum!)

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    1. Yes, the tail was short because I bought a children's set...
      A Chathedral is a Cathedral where you can go just for a chat with the Dean or anyone else who works there :-)

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  8. Sweet picture of you as a little girl, and your costume was very fine. But, as you say, not pink.....!!!!!!

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