Wednesday, 25th February 2009
Life In The Fast Lane!
Ash Wednesday is one of the only two days that Catholics are expected, nay obliged, to fast and abstain from eating meat products, nowadays. The other day is Good Friday.
Frankly, I could never understand the logic behind this. I could cheerfully become a raw foodie (ah! but then I’d miss qaqoċċ and bigilla and ful imgiddem, all on today’s menu!) and there was a time when my mother, God bless her soul, had to drive a hard bargain, usually involving reading well past bedtime, in order to get me to eat something.
But, as religion teachers are wont to currently explain, “It’s the principle of the thing...” This means that ‘fasting’ is a state of mind as well as of the body – for it is useless going without your steak and chips “as a sacrifice” if you persist in backbiting and other unsavoury habits.
Many Catholics, in fact, still fast every day during Lent. Some abstain from meat on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent; others do this throughout the year. In some communities, it is expected of the congregations to abide by variations of these norms, which are supposed to apply to Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59; abstinence applies to those aged 14 and over.
For Catholics, a “normal” fast allows two snacks and one regular meal - from which, it is hoped, you will leave the table still feeling ‘slightly’ peckish. There was a time when “abstinence” included not only meat, but also, products of animal origin such as dairy produce, lard, and eggs. However, fish – even the most expensive kind – was allowed.
In my childhood, I remember a friend of ours serving turtle (it was not yet illegal to do so then) because she said it lived in the sea, and was therefore a fish. This, of course, exemplifies the ways we play about with the “rules” in order to do what we like.
It is customary however, to include fasting of another kind, besides fasting from food – especially if the fast is done in the principle of “Nothing like Lent for the waistline!”
To Catholics, fasting has a three-fold reason. According to the catechism lessons of my youth where we learned most things by rote, it teaches us to mortify our desires, allows us to do (additional) penance for our sins, and gives solidarity with the poor. Whenever I asked whether it would be better to actually give “the poor” a hot meal, whether or not it contained meat, I was always told not to be sarcastic. There followed a mini-sermon about how asceticism prepared the soul for the glory of eternity.
Lent is an occasion to renew, rejoice, reflect, repent, revitalise, and restore.
All the great religions of the world – and most health regimes - include a type of fast in their beliefs. Fasting is good for the soul, the mind, and the body.
My Jewish friends fast on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, practiced as a means of repentance and top restore the soul to a state of wholeness. The fast of Tisha B'Av (Ninth of Av) commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, “the saddest day in Jewish history”. Jews fast to atone for their sins, or to make special request to God.
On these days, eating and drinking are forbidden for a 25-hour period [sundown to sundown].
There are several other fasts, notably the one that reminds us of the three days that Esther fasted before approaching King Ahasuerus on behalf of the Jewish people. This is the Fast of Esther, done on Adar 13. If the day is a Friday or Saturday, it is moved to the preceding Thursday, since moving it forward a day would make it coincide with Purim. For these fasts, eating and drinking are forbidden only from sunrise to sundown.
My Muslim friends are also very serious about fasting. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Jewish calendar, is the mandatory fasting period that commemorates the period when the Qur'an was first revealed to Prophet Muhammad. Moreover, some Muslims also fast during the month of Sha'baan, which precedes Ramadan, and most Muslims fast also on the three days leading up to Ramadan.
Muslims from the age of puberty until old age must go without up from food, drink, and also refrain from sexual intercourse from before the break of dawn until sunset for the entire month. Moreover, some devout Muslims fast on Mondays and/or Thursdays, because it is said that the Prophet Muhammad did so too.
The sick, travellers, and pregnant or lactating women are released from fasting – yet they must make the fast at some other time. Those who are permanently unable to fast must buy food for others instead.
Pagans fast in preparation for the Spring Equinox; the Baha'i fast during Ala, the 19th month of the Baha’i year, and Protestants leave fasting to the discretion of individuals – how’s that for egalitarianism?
Hindus, Buddhists, and LDS (Mormons) fast too. Hindus consider fasting a sacrifice; yet they do it to augment their ability to focus during worship or meditation, and to purify their bodies, minds and souls.
Buddhists look upon fasts as methods of purification, to free the mind... and to aid yogic feats. Mormons fast as a special way to pray for someone who has a specific need; but they also fast to get closer to God, and to increase their personal faith.
Whichever way you look at it, then, fasting appears to be the ideal way to become a better person, inside and out, without spending money on therapy or foods that promise a lot but deliver much less, at an inflated price.
RSS
Comments
Religion is unfortunately not a fiction but a political institution began for the very reasons you gave . ..... in the name of God.
I think its foolish to make the two inseparable.
They are very different.
God is Love and in Love there are no rules, however in politics there are plenty.
Religion promotes all sorts of ugliest including Racism....God doesn't.
By the way...God is a woman..... a beautiful one at that!
The older I grow the more I realize that 'God' is a necessary fiction we created to keep law and order in an other wise chaotic world. People need fear to keep them in perspective as much as we need consolation for any pain or sacrifice we endure. 'God' is the perfect answer. This 'God' never complains, never argues, never disagrees even. God is there when we want a 'God' there and for as long as we want a God there.
In ancient times we had a whole congregation of Gods to choose from. In time we found it was getting too crowded and uselessly too expensive, and I guess we decided that 'One ' would do.