Translation Procedures on culture bound term "Pancake day" from English to Spanish

James C. wrote:

Professional translators don't necessarily follow some formal set of methods for a situation like the one you describe, by carefully selecting the best method or procedure from a set of pre-established options. It's not always that simple.

Instead, they must think about the specific situation in all of its facets and then decide upon the best translation after considering, for example, who is the intended reader? What will the reader understand or not understand? Will a literal translation work or not?

This is in fact what you see 'neilmac' doing in his response just below your question: he quickly and somewhat informally links Pancake Day with Shrove Tuesday and then with Mardi Gras and then with Martes de Carnaval, as part of his method/procedure, since all of these terms do in fact refer to the same date on the calendar, and all of them may or may not be understood by the intended reader(s) of your translation.

James C. wrote:

Perhaps the other English term for the same date would be better, Shrove Tuesday -- how would that translate into Spanish? I don't know, what is a shrove? Right, nobody really knows, and definitely not Alberto.