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Author
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Comment
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aka Greensleeves
Registered User
(3/26/05 3:20 pm)
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Lent/Easter and egg symbolism... a practical question
I realize this question is grounded firmly in reality, and is not at its heart a matter of folkore, but I think the SLL gang might have the best chance of coming up with an answer. With all the spectacle and observance this time of year, it has suddenly occurred to me to wonder something about the Lenten fast (historically). As everyone was using up their fast-forbidden foods--eggs, meat, milk, fat, etc--what became of all the eggs laid during Lent? Surely they wouldn't have kept for 40 days (hence Fat Tuesday). Cows must have continued to give milk.... I find it hard to imagine letting it all go to waste.... Does anybody know?
Further speculation and discussion about seasonal symbolism is of course welcome as well. :)
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midori
snyder
Registered User
(3/26/05 4:39 pm)
ezSupporter
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Re: Lent/Easter and egg symbolism... a practical question
wow what a wonderful question! I am thinking of the traditional fast rules--and they vary quite a bit depending on where you live. Palestinian and Greek Christians have graduated fasts that don't become really austere until Holy Week when they are reduced to olives, onions, lentils and unleavened bread. Even Europeans have gradual fasts...we eat meat during the week but not on certain days (preVatican II it was Wednesday and Fridays...now it's just Fridays and certain Holy Days of Obligation, like Ash Wednesday.). So while one gives up rich foods--one doesn't necessarily give up dairy or meat or eggs throughout the whole 40 days. Italians, Eastern Europeans all have special Lenten pastries (oh the Italian Columba!! a soft bready cake in the shape of a dove! delicious).
Here's a bit from a book on Russian Lenten Cuisine:
"And if the master wants some lenten food, prepare hempseed oil, and all grains at home, and flour, and all sorts of pirogi, and bake various blini, and juices, and rolls, and all sorts of kasha, and soup with peas and noodles, and split pea puree, and soups, and mushroom dumplings (kundumtsi), and jams and sweet kashas and victuals - pirogi with mushrooms, and with saffron milk cap mushrooms, and with milk mushrooms, and with poppyseeds, and with turnips and with cabbage, and with whatever God sends..."
So it's still pretty good eating...
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aka Greensleeves
Registered User
(3/27/05 2:57 pm)
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Re: Lent/Easter and egg symbolism... a practical question
Of course! How foolish of me to forget that certain days--like Sundays--are
excempt from the fast! And with a Sunday every week, it doesn't
take that much thrift to make an egg last a week. Especially in
Northern Europe in March. ;)
I know that young children are also exempt from fasting--is this a modern convention related to our knowledge of nutrition, or has this traditionally been the case?
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midori
snyder
Registered User
(3/27/05 6:21 pm)
ezSupporter
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Re: Lent/Easter and egg symbolism... a practical question
Yes, Children under the age of 14 are exempt from fasting, but must practice abstinence(not eating red meat or chicken or soup or gravies made from meat). Everyone over 18 and people up to the age of 60 are required to fast (which usually mean two small meals or one main meal in the middle of the day.) Pregnant or nursing women are exempt from the fast as are laborers engaged in heavy work. But really the rules of fasting are so varied it's hard even for Catholics to get them all straight. Here's one site that gives a pretty good long historical explanation (including that more food is permitted for those living in the cold Northern areas, the acknowledgement that in some palces butter, eggs and milk were prohibited, while in another area they are allowed because they are staples of the diet...
Catholic Encylopedia online
www.newadvent.org/cathen/05789c.htm
But these are the canon laws for the Latin Rite Churches--the Eastern Orthodox Churches have their own...here's a brief summary:
Form (of Fasting) was actually an "abstinence" from favorite kinds foods, since the Eastern economy was much wealthier and had a larger variety of foods.
"Abstain from certain foods every Friday during the year (similar to the Roman Church)
Strict Fast on first Monday of Lent, Good Friday and Holy Saturday (no foods that contain animal products OR come from animals, such as eggs, milk, cheese and butter) "
I'm not sure what other regulations exist for other Christian communities...but I am sure that most would have modified their fasts with periods of abstinence...so that food would not go to waste. (especially vulnerable items like dairy and eggs.)
Edited by: midori snyder at: 3/27/05 6:26 pm
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GailS
Unregistered User
(3/28/05 9:42 am)
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Lent
I remember my Godmother (who practices the Byzantine rite) telling me that certain saint’s feast days are also exempt. The Boston Paper's will post an exemption notice for the RC's if St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday during Lent.
I noticed the bit about pirogis. Modern churches often hold Friday fish fries during Lent as fund raisers, but back-in-the-day, the Altar Society ladies in the ethnic parishes would sell homemade pirogis every Friday. Huge vats of boiling water were filled with potato, “pot” cheese and lekvar pirogis. The contemporary commercial ones readily available are “sinkers" by comparison.
FYI, the Delaware Zoo has a couple of capybaras in their collection. Whether fact or fiction, they say the flesh from the capybaras was consumed during Lent, since it wasn’t considered to be “meat.” (The semi-aquatic rodents spend a great deal of time in the water.)
That makes them...Fish? :)
GailS
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AliceCEB
Registered User
(3/28/05 12:04 pm)
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Re: Lent
I've also heard that hippopotamus were not considered meat for the
same reason--unfortunately I do not remember the source. :)
Best,
Alice
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