Approaching the Lenten hump
At 20 days into Lent I am horrified to realize there are more than 20 more.As a cultural anthropologist, I engage in many traditions the world has proven obsolete, such as reading books, being married, and trepanning.
And this year I decided to give up something for Lent.
Lent is the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter, and this year Ash Wednesday was February 6 and Easter is March 23, 46 days later. Like the other bait and switch aspects of organized religions, however, Lent is advertised on its website as being just "40 days."
The last time I did Lent I was a child and had no choice. There is nothing that brings a child closer to someone else's idea of God than associating it with the removal of something that makes him happy.
So, like many children, I gave up something I could live without.
"This Lent I'm giving up Munchausen's-by-Proxy," I told my priest when I was ten. Thus I also learned the valuable lesson that my priest didn't listen to me.
Different churches determine Lent differently, but it is traditionally a variant on the 40 days Jesus was to have spent in the desert being tempted by a devil.
But a release valve was built in so that people didn't have to abstain the entire time. Catholics are allowed to go back to their vices on Sundays, but are not allowed to eat meat on Fridays (a practice abandoned year-round but still maintained during Lent), hence why McDonald's still advertises Filet o' Fish specifically on that day.
Perhaps because, as adults, we more or less arrange to get what we want when we want it, thereby taking away the childhood appeal of birthdays and Christmas, I thought it would be a good experiment to do without some things during this arbitrary time.
Tuesday, February 5 was the last day I drank anything alcoholic. Ten days after that I stopped eating fast food, a few days after that I stopped coffee and caffeinated soda. Then no red meat. Ten days before Easter I will stop murdering the homeless.
And I stick to it on Sundays because I'm hard-core. I don't know of anyone in recorded history who has gone without alcohol and snacks for more than 20 days.
The challenge then is: after these things are removed, mightn't I also add something? I might take some time to invent a religion based on my science fiction stories.
So far I don't feel the benefits that giving up on vices is supposed to provide, but then I'm not missing them as much as I thought I would. Ask me in a month if I feel the same way.
Labels: culture, personal history, religion
posted
by Marty Barrett at Tuesday, February 26, 2008
2 Comments:
Jaigermeister....Twinkies....yummm. You know you want some.......The store is just down the street........
Who is the misinformed person that thinks that fish is not meat? I keep meeting "vegetarians" that eat fish. And this whole fish during lent thing cracks me up.
Stop murdering the homeless? Should you really be giving up public services for lent?
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home