Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Tuesday) is next Tuesday, February 13th, which means next Wednesday, February 14th is both St. Valentine’s Day, and Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.
I haven’t actually decided what I’m going to do for Lent this year. In past years, I’ve observed by doing things like meditating every day, or reading through the New Testament between Ash Wednesday and Easter. In 2018, I became a Vegan for Lent, and I’ve stayed Vegetarian ever since.
Other ideas for this year include the possibility of meditating daily again or, possibly, giving up restaurants. I may read something, but I haven’t figured out what yet.
Anyway, I thought I’d ask fellow Dopers what they might be doing for Lent this year. And maybe, if any of you need a bit of support in a few weeks, this would be a place to look for it!
And it’s not strictly for religious people, either - even during my many years as an atheist, I used Lent as a kind of ‘reset’ button on any New Year’s resolutions that weren’t working out. I’m not Catholic, but my denomination (United Church of Canada) encourages us to explore spiritual practices from other faiths.
Lent is one of my favorite liturgical seasons. It’s like you get forty days of New Years resolutions!
I am doing three things for Lent this year. One, I am giving up my computer. No social media, no news, no NYT Wordle, nothing. I’m retaining email, which is a necessity. Instead, I am going to visit every local independent bookstore within a fifteen mile radius, which is approximately a dozen; I’ve only been to a few. Three, I’m hosting Ukrainian pysanky egg decorating every Sunday after church. I did this last year and it was great.
You may notice little that is classically Lenten: “fasting, prayer, and almsgiving”. Although I am fasting from the thing I’m addicted to, my laptop. At this stage of my life I can accurately predict that I am not going to be doing any more prayer and almsgiving than I already do, just because I said I was going to.
I never drink during Lent. Except on Sundays…you know, not really part of Lent. Feast days and all that. Could lose fifteen pounds this year easy when combined with modest eating, and I’m not talking about water weight.
I’ll make up for booze’s placating influence on me by jerking off like a motherfuck, though. Probably in private, mostly.
So, yes. And I look forward to getting Ashed on Valentime’s Day, just to subtly remind the hearts, flowers, and candy puppies crowd that they should be really thinking about the putrefaction of their dead corpses and keep that kissy-kissy crap far away from me.
And I might actually get around to reading Nacho of Loyola’s Exercitia this year.
Until seeing this thread, I hadn’t given Lent a thought. Even now, I don’t think much of it, having lapsed decades ago. And even before then, I never got much out of the whole self-denial thing. Whatever works for you, tho.
I don’t see Lent as a time of self-denial. Even though it has long been taught that way: feel bad about yourself and atone for your sins. Originally it was the time converts (these were adults) were prepared for the rites of initiation into the church at Easter. Reflection, prayer, giving up your old life for the new life.
So I see Lent as a time to prepare for Easter by amending the habits which I tend to slide into but do not benefit anyone.
I’m preaching at both Ash Wednesday’s services. There’s a workbook on racial reconciliation I’ve been meaning to go through, and a discussion series by A.J. Levine called Short Stories By Jesus that looks interesting. I recite Morning Prayer every morning, I will be attending Wednesday night soup and supper series, and Anglican Stations of the Cross on Fridays, so additional devotions are not really in the cards for me.
The doughnuts are before Lent, not during. Mm sorry. Getting rid of your fat, sugar, etc. before the Great Austerity.
What people who never fast never experience is the voluptuous joy of breaking it at the celebration. This is a part of living with rituals and seasons that modern life has erased with its convenient universal sameness.
One year for Mardi Gras I made Hawaiian malasadas (another fried dough thing) for a party for which everyone was supposed to come as their shadow side. That was a fun party.
Heh. No coal, but my dad loving telling a story about his younger brother, my uncle Mal. One Christmas morning after Mal had been something of a little 4 or 5 year old brat during the previous weeks, he went to the living room to find twigs poking out of the top of his stocking on the mantle. He immediately burst into tears.
Turns out it was just twigs that were still attached to a tangerine. Not a punishment.
Concur. I went to Catholic school K-8, and I suffered enough there for an entire lifetime.
We have been trying for some time to get rid of “boy’s locker room” type comments as they tend to drive away our female members. Please do not post things like this.
My own take on Lent - I believe this is the time when Christ discovered his Jesus nature through prayer and fasting. So, partly to show my respect for a religious leader whom I follow, and partly for my own spiritual benefit, I often do something to mark this time.
It doesn’t have to be self-denial, though it is often spoken of and seen as that. When it does involve ‘giving up’ something, it tends to be something that I don’t need, that can be a distraction - hence many people giving up luxury foods like meat, dairy, coffee, chocolate, alcohol. Maybe if you think of it as a Marie Kondo de-cluttering of your soul, that might make more sense.
And the times when I’ve given something up, I’ve often put aside the money that I would have spent on, say, chocolate, and given it to a worthy cause. Not even necessarily a church-related cause.
Other times, it can serve as an opportunity to improve some aspect of your life - a reading project, for instance, or a 40 day period of learning a new skill. Or just the notion of getting in better shape - I’m at an age where if I don’t look after my body better than I have been, I will be struggling with health issues ten years from now.
Anyway, I still have a few days to decide. And I’m happy to see there are others taking this opportunity - wishing everyone all the best with whatever they choose to do or not do.
Whoa, that brings back memories of 50+ years ago. We used these homemade applicators dipped in hot wax. I think that is pysanky (?). This was a Polish, not Ukrainian tradition, but I suspect it is pretty much the same thing.
That’s kinda how fasts usually work in Judaism. It’s not supposed to be painful and unpleasant to fast. Fasting is a way to focus on the spiritual, and NOT think about food for a day.
As a teen, I found fasting hard. But as an adult, I don’t, and I like having food off my plate on fast days, so to speak.
And yes, breakfast is always enjoyable after the fast.
