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Pancakes flip for fair trade at Canterbury Cathedral on Shrove Tuesday
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
2003-048-1
Posted: Tuesday, March 04, 2003
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Frying pans were flying at Canterbury Cathedral as a pancake race with a purpose was held in the cloisters, with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, holding one end of the winning tape. The purpose of the Shrove Tuesday event was to mark the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, an annual event in the United Kingdom to publicize the fair-trade movement, designed to ensure farmers in developing countries a fair price for their crops.
The archbishop was making his first public appearance, apart from church services, since his enthronement on February 27.
Pancakes are traditionally eaten in England on Shrove Tuesday, the day before the start of Lent, the six-week season many Christians use for self-reflection, sacrifice and fasting in commemoration of time spent by Jesus in the wilderness. In pancake races, the participants hold frying pans and must flip their pancakes while they run. The race around the Canterbury cloisters was contested by 11 clergy, including a bishop.
'It's fun, and imaginative events like this ensure that more and more people hear about the Fairtrade Mark,' said Harriet Lamb, director of the Fairtrade Foundation. The Fairtrade label, which certifies that a product has been fairly traded between farmer and consumer, appears on more than 100 products in Britain, including coffee, tea, bananas, cocoa, chocolate, biscuits, honey, sugar, fruit juice and fresh fruit.
More than half a million farmers in 25 countries benefit directly from Fairtrade. The first Fairtrade label was created in the Netherlands in 1988. There are now 17 national labeling organizations around the world.
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