pancake day

[mrsflibble]

Lent is calculated on the lunar calendar, easter is ALWAYS the 1st sunday after the 1st full moon after the spring equinox. Lent is therefore 40 days prior to that. the whole idea of using up all your flour, eggs and milk is actually partially a throw back to the judaic roots of christianity where before passover, one must rid the house of any leaven. Read exodus,. it'll make more sense than i can stick in here.
Traditionally, a christian would give up meat for lent- this is all going back to the catholic idea of "transmogrification" where the bread and wine of communion actually BECOME the body and blood of christ in your body. Meat is also said to become christ in your system. this is also why meat is traditionally not eaten on a friday, (jesus' cruxifiction) and why in mostly catholic countries you can't get meat on a friday very easily for love nor money.
the 40 days is in immitation of jesus' time in the desert.

now, let's all go buy a couple of goats and we'l have a good ole sacrefice.

[ina]

now, let's all go buy a couple of goats and we'l have a good ole sacrefice.

Better hide my two little beasties away from you then!

It's really interesting, isn't it, how Christian and pagan (or even before that...) rites get mixed over the millenia. I've had problems before trying to explain to a Muslim friend why Christmas is always on the same day, but not Easter...

[Millymollymandy]

I don't understand that one either! Who does decide when Easter will fall?

[ina]

easter is ALWAYS the 1st sunday after the 1st full moon after the spring equinox.

But why - I have no idea!

[hamster]

Well, I suppose it makes sense to have it as close to the equinox as possible (hijacking those pagan traditions and all ) and it has to be on a Sunday from a Christian p.o.v..... Maybe that's it...

[Millymollymandy]

easter is ALWAYS the 1st sunday after the 1st full moon after the spring equinox.

But why - I have no idea!

Oops I didn't read Mrs Flib's posting!

I would say however there is absolutely no problems buying meat in France on Fridays and you can't get much more catholic than here!

[mrsflibble]

it's partly hijacking pagan rites to make the pagans fall into line a bit better, and partly because the judaic calendar is lunar and easter always falls around passover; the passover festival being what Jesus was in Jerusalem, his Pesach meal being the one with the whole "take the bread it's my body" and suchlike..... orthodox christians follow this more than the western christians do, hence why easter here is march 23rd, but easter in greece, russia etc is on 27th april which coincides exactly with Pesach this year. so in actual fact this year western christan easter coincides fairly well with the jewish festival Purim.

[ina]

I'm just reading this absolutely great book "Food in England", which is partly history, partly cookery book - and from that at least I know that pancake day was alive and well in the 15th century! No explanation given for it, though.

(I'll review the book in the appropriate section once I'm through - it's fascinating!)

[marshlander]

"transmogrification"

my mother used this word, mrsflibble, and I always thought she made it up!

[ina]

I would say however there is absolutely no problems buying meat in France on Fridays and you can't get much more catholic than here!

The French get their priorities right: food first!