Raised the shade on the kitchen window this morning and saw this! Reminds me of the old poem--forget who wrote it.
How I luff der vinter season!
Brings us ski und schnee und schneezin!
The Lenten fast used to end precisely at noon on this day when I was growing up. What my parents ate, I don't know. They were kind of old school...which means there was no wild gorging at 12:01 because it was still officially Lent. Doubtless the fast ended at noon on Easter Saturday so the priests would not faint from hunger during the Easter Vigil service.
So some of my Catholic friends are telling me (some of my Best Friends are Catholic, Honest to God) that during Lent, Sundays were/are a kind of "get out of jail free" day. Like, if you'd given up chocolate, or sugar in your tea (a very common Lenten sacrifice in Newfoundland where I grew up) on Sunday you were allowed to indulge in whatever you'd given up.
ReplyDeleteReally? I never heard that before. (And as I note, I grew up in Newfoundland, and I had dozens and dozens of Irish Catholic friends.)
What were/are the rules in Xtreme English's neck o' the woods?
curiously,
ronnie
ronnie:
ReplyDeletewhen they eased up the rules on fasting some time in the 50s (boy, were you ever NOT BORN YET!!), we didn't have to fast on sundays ("every sunday is a little easter," etc.).
actually, i always thought canon law was a hoot...with it, you could find your way around just about anything. for example, you could eat campbell's bean with bacon soup on fridays because there was less than 2 ounces of bacon in a serving (ha...less than 2 ounces of bacon per gallon?), which made it a FLAVORING, not a main ingredient. also, you could drink alcoholic beverages when you were fasting, no problem. but canon law also said if you were drinking alcoholic beverages, you could eat a snack so you would not get drunk. chips and dip, anyone? cheese n crackers?
i'm a lapsed quaker attender these days.
This winter-spring hybrid scene brought to mind the nickname Chreasters - people who only go to Church on Christmas and Easter. Also known as the C & E's. Not that I go to Church...
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter though!
Love, Helen
Chreasters....never heard that one! Thanx and happy easter to you, too. the weather bug on my desktop says it's 30 degrees here! yowzah!
ReplyDeletem.e.
Happy Easter Mom!
ReplyDelete