Why the pancakes come first: using up eggs, milk and butter before the fast, what Ash Wednesday marks, and why even non-religious people still give something up for Lent.
Pancake Day is usually taught as pancakes and races, with the rest left out. This fills in the rest. The eggs, milk and butter had to be used before the fast began, which is where the pancakes came from; the round golden shape stood for the returning sun; and the feast is the last one before six weeks of Lent.
Then Ash Wednesday, and the part that surprises students most - that people with no religion at all still give up chocolate or sweets for forty days, because the habit outlived the reason. There are pancake races too, with the rule that you must toss it three times. Good listening practice, and a genuine culture lesson rather than a decorated one.