Fat Tuesday

Mardi Gras (lit. Fat Tuesday), Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, is almost upon us.

Time to party, carnival, eat drink and enjoy before a time of leanness and fasting. A time for relishing freedom and plenty before a time of discipline and self restraint. We will be making our pancakes for supper on Tuesday evening, probably inviting over some of the neighbourhood to eat up with us.

We are good at partying in our culture, good at treating ourselves, good at buying now and paying later. I am old enough to have been brought up pre-credit cards, in an era when you saved up for things before you bought them, and when the thing would still be there to buy six months later. Built in obsolescence and two-weekly changes of merchandise didn't happen back then. Working out how badly you really want something before you get out the plastic is a discipline that I rather enjoy, and not giving in and buying is rarely something I regret later. The pleasure and appreciation is all the greater when you get something you really want, something you have thought about for more than five minutes.

Giving up things for Lent is traditionally associated with giving up food and drink, and we do tend still to think immediately of coffee or chocolate or alcohol or desserts or something, if we are giving up anything. The meaning of Lent gets lost if we focus on the benefits of dieting - living a cycle of (moderate) fasting and feasting is undeniably good for the body as well as the soul, but Lent is lost if it gets subsumed into the quest of body-consciousness.

Comments

[Brian]

I fully agree. This sort of thing also hits home when I walk into the Law Faculty on Ash Wednesday with ashes on my forehead, and get some very puzzled looks from people who (no doubt) have very much enjoyed their pancakes the night before...

[Anna]

my husband and I recently cut up our plastic and adopted the discipline of not buying anything we couldn't afford to buy...

It's been so freeing and then there's no guilt associated with the purchase because it fit into the budget somewhere...

Boundaries lead to freedom... and fasting for Lent or adopting a new discipline frequently has the same effect on me..

P.S. did you know I married an anglican priest? And am seriously considering entering the process myself...

[ash]

I think I am going to have a think about what I'm going to do this lent. I probably should lose weight, drink less etc. And, being a student, I live in minus numbers when it comes to budgets.

But maybe I can think of something more 'spiritual'...

[acetate monkey]

I'm trying to keep a perspective of lent I got from somewhere (maybe you?) of practicing freedom from a thing, rather than disciplining for the sake of austerity or sacrifice. A bit related to what Anna said. I suppose the image of those "get-unhooked" TV ads or an addict giving up drugs would on the one hand require discipline, but the focus would more be on developing freedom from a habit that governs and constrains. Freedom from compulsive consumerism, freedom from compulsive gluttony, freedom from dieting(?).

[paul]

i fully agree, that's why i am not giving up anything - in fact i am taing something up instead.....

[dave paisley]

Ah, Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday. How elegant/not elegant.

It reminds me that the town of Baton Rouge in Louisiana becomes merely "Red Stick" in English. Doesn't sound anywhere near as fascinating.

[Becca]

I've taken to reading your blog Maggi after seeing the link on a friend's blog. I've heard you speak at Greenbelt before, so vaguely know who you are!!
Anywho, I've decided not to give up anything for lent this year (altho last year I gave up TV and it was great!), but instead I'm gonna really focus on my Bible reading and try to go deeper with God.

[Aghaveagh]

For me, it's always been the temptation to go overboard with Lenten disciplines, and then feel guilty when I cannot live up to impossible expectations.

When sacrifice becomes the goal itself, rather than an aid to Lenten discipline, something has gone haywire.