It's Ash Wednesday and Fat Tuesday has come an gone. By any other name it's still a party to welcome (mourn?) the beginning of Lent. In Ireland it is known by the name Pancake Tuesday, for reasons unclear to every single person I asked. The Irish bring in the non-meat season by eating pancake feasts. If I had my druthers, I'd do it by roasting meat on a spit and serving it with as many meat dishes as I could think of, but here, they have pancakes. Just one more difference between US Catholic and Irish Catholic. Also? They get Exception Days, particular days during Lent where you can indulge yourself in whatever it was you gave up in the first place. Like sanctioned cheating. St Patrick Day seems to be the most popular day for this, although it's been reported that some people take Sundays off. Personally, I wasn't brought up with exception days. My mother is a stickler for certain rules. If the package says one every 4 hours, you don't get another dose at 3.5 hours, you must wait. We didn't get Sundays off, and we didn't get to dive into our Easter Baskets until after church. We did, but we we're supposed to. You put my name on chocolate, I'm gonna eat it, it's that simple.
Many years ago, while in college, yet again, (or still as the case may be) my classmates and I discovered a disproportionately high number of Catholics in our studio. Being the Bible Belt, non-denominational and Baptist were the popular choices. En masse, we decided to give up together. Sort of like group therapy, we figured that we'd be able to support each other thru the rough patches.
Nathalie was the first one to dive off the wagon. She'd given up Dr. Pepper, only to find out that giving up your usual 6-pack a day leaves you with headaches that more likely resemble heroin withdrawal than Lenten Suffering. I think that's when she decided she had a problem. Next up were the guys. They decided on a 2 prong approach: TV and fried foods. They were also the ones to invoke sanctioned cheating, I mean Exception Days. Friends was excepted since it was in it's hey day and someone brought a portable TV into the studio, a move I still feel was exceptionally mean. Then it was Sundays Exception Day. Then it was French fries, which made them ill in a beautiful twist of fate. Then it was hamburgers. And then it was all done and over with for them. They went to dinner together, splurged on everything they could possibly order and then spent the rest of the night sick as dogs. When you give up grease, it's hard to get back into it, they found.
I, being the cruel woman I tend to be when I'm not paying attention closely, decided to give up chocolate and caffeine. I still don't know what possessed me. I made the full 40 days but it was rough. More accurately, it was rough on my classmates. When midnight came and Lent turned to Easter, Ian was in studio with me. He looked at his watch, went down to the snack machine, returned with a candy bar and did what I can only describe as 'taking one for the team'. He edged his way over to me, much like approaching a wild animal, held the candy bar well in front of him, and called to my attention that it was after midnight and therefore after Lent, would I like to celebrate since I was the only one that finished? The poor man. This is a 5th degree black belt that flinched every time I walked by. The guys made me swear, after my chocolate + coffee to blood levels were restored to normal, that I would never, Never, NEVER AGAIN give anything up for lent. My finishing was their suffering.
And so here I am, Lent 2006, considering giving up something. But everytime I consider it, I think of Ian and Ron and Bryson and Rich and Nathalie looking at me with fear in their eyes. And so I keep my promise. Think I'll go make some chocolate coffee now.
4 comments:
had never heard about the exception Sunday either until I moved down to Texas. I think they just made it up down here.... But if you think about it, there are supposed to be 40 days of lent. But if you count them, there are 46 days, but without the Sundays, there are only 40. So I guess that Sunday is the "day of rest", even for giving up stuff. In my mind, instead of giving up stuff, I like to try to do behavior changes. Like try to be a happier person in the morning, and be more thankful for what I have. Just a thought...
Mel
Lent doesn't include Sundays because Sundays are supposed to be a day of celebration. It's not cheating, it's official, I promise. St. Patrick's Day, on the other hand, that's cheating.
Maybe the Church they intentionally put St. Patrick's feast day during Lent to try to keep the Irish sober. Heh, right, like that's gonna work!
And Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday is pancake day here in the States as well. We had a pancake dinner at church last night. IHOP actually gave away a free short stack of pancakes to each customer. (our IHOP is now a Flying Burrito,though).
I remember mom talking about pancakes on Fat Tuesday, too, actually. Wonder why we didn't do it?
I always give up chocolate...I think this year I'll give up watching gay porn. or embezzeling. maybe murder. cocaine? Ooh! White slavery! That's the one!
Your sister's on the right track. You need to give up something more meaningful. Since your sister is giving up slavery that one is out. Watching Gay Porn is mine, so maybe heroine would suit you. Or maybe just give up suede or orange apparel.
I'll never give up my orange!! And that, incidentally, was the battle cry last Saturday at the parade. :-)
Maybe I'll give up vegetables. Other than potatoes that is... you'd starve to death here if you didn't eat potatoes.
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