Pancake Day

It is called Pancake Day here in NL. But whatever you call it; Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras... it is a BIG DEAL here. For weeks CBC radio has been advertising that the morning show would be broadcasting from a hotel in the Battery this morning while serving up Pancakes. Every church and community group in the city is hosting a breakfast, lunch or supper of pancakes today. Even Studyboy took the electric frying pan to school today for a special pancake lunch in the sociology department. I cannot stress how important today seems to be for the average Newfoundlander, and all I've been thinking is "If this is how they do Fat Tuesday, what will Easter be like?"
St. John's is a pretty Catholic place, and anticipating that a foreign student friend of Studyboy's would ask about the significance of today's ritual, I consulted a local I know at the pottery studio to get my facts straight. She let me in on an interesting custom I think may be unique to NL.
Newfoundlanders put stuff in their pancakes. I don't mean like blueberries. She listed off a number of unusual items which, when found in your pancake, were meant to predict what you would grow up to be. Such as:
A cross - the recipient would grow up to be a priest or a nun.
A thimble - who ever found this would become a tailor.
Money - the finder would be rich.
A small piece of nail (not too sharp, I was assured) - and I didn't quite get the significance of what the finder would become, although the nail itself was symbolic of the ones used at the crucifixion.
All this was confirmed today by another friend at the studio, who says his mum used to put her wedding ring in the batter, and whoever found it was sure to get married. It was interesting though that he had forgotten or never knew the whole reason for Pancakes to begin with.