Maundy Thursday, Palm Sunday, et. al.

I should know this, and I could look it up, but I would like some of the Dopers to flex their religious dura matter.

Palm Sunday - I get it. Triumphant Entry of Jesus.

Fat Tuesday aka Mardi Gras- Last chance to pork out (pun intended) before giving up meat.

Note to my Catholic brethren and sisteren - **RELIGIOUS SPOILER ALERT!!!: **

FISH IS MEAT. It breathes. It has blood. It lays eggs. It ain’t a vegetable and it ain’t a mineral.

Shrove Tuesday - Heard of this 40+ years ago. What is this?

Ash Wednesday - You use the Ashes from Palm Sunday for this ceremony.

Maundy Thursday - Saw this in an obscure church bulletin. What is this?

Good Friday - I understand it, but I don’t get it. What was good about it?

Are there religious Mondays and Saturdays?

Shrove Tuesday is another name for Mardi Gras.

Ash Wednesday is the day after Shrove Tuesday and is the start of Lent.

Maunday Thursday is the day before Good Friday and commemorates the Last Supper.

There is also Easter Monday- the day after Easter.

And Holy Saturday, which is considered a really somber day since Jesus is in the Tomb.

Holy Week is the week before Easter, and Easter is the week after Easter.

Not sure why this is in CS

And, of course, the joke, “No, it’s maunday TUESDAY wednesday thurs…”

The OP list is not in one contiguous week. 40 days or so (iirc) separate tues and wed from the rest of the list…

If your father is the supreme being, the act of dying is a much bigger deal than rising from the dead. The actual/symbolic death of Jesus for the sins of others is the big event, the rising from the dead was more for show.

Hey, if you can accept that a tiny wafer is really the body of Jesus Christ, fish becoming a vegetable on Fridays is a snap.

Collop Monday

There’s Clean Monday for Orthodox and eastern rite Catholics, and Holy Saturday after Good Friday.

ETA: We Jews don’t consider fish to be meat, either.

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday are also known as the Triduum.

The derivation of “Maundy” is unclear - I’ve been taught that it derives from the Latin for “command” or “commandmdent” since it commemorates the Last Supper at which Jesus said “I give you a new commandment; that you love one another as I have loved you.” Others claim that the word refers to begging or the cups held by beggars.

“Shrove” as in Shrove Tuesday is the past tense of the verb “to shrive” which means to confess and do absolution. It’s the day before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, which continues until Easter.

This sounds like more of a General Question than a Cafe Society one. Moved.

“Meat” in this context is red meat and, usually, poultry. Fish is the major substitute for protein-rich entrees on “days of abstinence” that are kept meatless – presently the rule, I believe, calls for Ash Wednesday and Good Friday to be kept, with weekdays in Lwent and Fridays as purely optional observances.

Fasting can also mean one “real” meal per day, with “a light collation” in place of the normal second major meal. I.e., if “dinner” is an early-afternoon event, with “supper” following, “Supper” becomes soup-and-sandwich rather than another full meal. Likewise if “dinner” is the evening meal, “lunch” is the light meal. This does not ordinarily prevent meat at the main meal, though some people on strict fasts may do so. While sedentary lifestyles may do this normally, it was an act of self-denial for manual laborers.

And JFTR, if done at all, it’s done to honor God and to strengthen one’s own will. Many good people do not, even in denominations that once called for it.

Skammer is correct that “Maundy” is thought to derive from Mandatum, but the evidence is less than ideal to ‘prove’ this.

Something else about Lent that often gets missed: Sundays don’t count. That is, because each Sunday is a commemoration of the Resurrection, Sundays are Feast days even in Lent. If you’ve embraced a Lenten discipline of fasting - from meat, or chocolate, or caffiene or video games or whatever - you’re supposed to enjoy those things on Sundays. If you count the days between Ash Wednesday and Lent, it’s 46 days: 40 days of fasting and 6 Sundays.

The Wednesday of Holy Week is sometimes referred to as “Spy Wednesday”, as that would have been the day that Judas betrayed Jesus.

Current Roman Catholic rules call for abstinence from meat (meaning the flesh of mammals and birds) on all Fridays during Lent, and abstinence and fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The precise definition of “fasting” varies, but in my diocese,

In addition, Catholics are also encouraged to choose something personal to give up during Lent. This is how you’ll sometimes hear “I’m giving up chocolate for Lent”, or alcohol, or whatever.

If you don’t abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent or fast on Ash Wednesday, is it a sin?

Is it a sin to not choose something personal to give up for Lent?

Per the Catholic Dictionary (CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Good Friday), it’s not clear why it’s called “Good Friday” - some say it’s a modification of “God’s Friday” - in other languages it’s usually called something that doesn’t translate to “Good Friday”

Assuming you do it deliberately, and don’t have a good reason for it (as mentioned, there are exemptions for things like health), then yes.

I’ll defer to Bricker or tomndebb on this one, since I’m not certain, but I think the answer is no: That’s encouraged, not required.

Lenten discipline does not necessarily mean giving something up, either. It could mean taking on a new discipline – for example, a commitment to daily prayer or charity that is beyond what you would normally do.

Lent is generally meant to be a time for penitence, self-examination, and making amends. “Giving something [lawful] up” (candy, say) is considered only one of many forms this could take. Pentitential prayer, trying to right a past misdeed, trying to do supererogatory acts of service/mercy would all qualify too.

Failure to get in the spirit of any of these things would fall under ur not doin it rite, but certainly failure to do one particular form of sacrifice would not be an active sin of commission. Now, IANA theologian, but hmm . . . the intentional omission of making any effort to observe these recommended acts might be a species of or symptom for sloth, which is a [potentially mortal??] sin.

In this regard, perhaps T.S. Eliot’s “East Coker” may be of interest in conveying a sense of the emotive value of the day.