Western Christians transition into Lent: Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday

March 04, 2014 by Leave a Comment

TUESDAY, MARCH 4 and WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5: With Easter on the horizon and Lent quickly approaching, Western Christians enter the season of repentance on Ash Wednesday—after, of course, making any last indulgences the day before, on Fat Tuesday.

Traditionally an opportunity for Christian households to cleanse their cupboards of butter and eggs in preparation for Lent, Mardi Gras (literally, “Fat Tuesday) has evolved far beyond its simple, pancakes-and-paczkis roots. The food-laden traditions of Shrove Tuesday do still exist—in England, pancake races have been held continuously since the 15th century, and doughnut shops worldwide continue to bake millions of paczkis—but the elaborate festivities have morphed into mega-festivals across the globe. (Wikipedia has details.) Whether it’s Carnival in Brazil, Carnevale in Italy or Mardi Gras in New Orleans, days-long events finally come to a close on Ash Wednesday, as Christians begin the 40 days of Lent.

Free pancakes! This March 4, head over to the International House of Pancakes (IHOP) for a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. In lieu of paying for pancakes, IHOP asks its customers to donate to one of three designated charities.

Recipes: Shrimp gumbo, jambalaya and King Cake can be on your menu, with help from Food Network and Taste of Home.

FAT TUESDAY:
INDULGE IN PACZKIS AND
PARTY LIKE IT’S MARDI GRAS

Epiphany—or King’s Day, on January 6— signals the official start of Carnival season. Montevideo, Uruguay, is the first city to kick off festivities for Carnival (on January 20), in a celebration that lasts 40 days. In most cities, events begin one or two weeks prior to Fat Tuesday, with colorful parades, masquerade dress, festive music and, of course, plenty of sweet and fried breads. Whether it’s the Polish paczki, the English pancake or the Swedish semla, the tradition of using sugar, lard, butter and eggs on Fat Tuesday has as many cultural variations as nations that celebrate.

In the UK and Ireland, the week prior to Ash Wednesday is known as “Shrovetide,” ending on Shrove Tuesday and always involving pancakes. Shrove Tuesday is derived from the word shrive, which means, “to confess.”

Did you know? In the Belgian city of Binche, the Mardi Gras festival is known as the Carnival of Binche. It was proclaimed one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in 2003.

History attributes the most basic traditions of Carnival to pre-Christian tradition, most likely in relation with the seasons. By the 2nd Century CE, Romans were observing a Fast of 40 Days, which was often preceded by a season of feasting and costuming. The Christian Mardi Gras began in Medieval Europe, although Venice remains one of the most sought-after destinations for the holiday. (CNN has a slideshow of the world’s most dazzling Mardi Gras celebrations.)

Did you know? “Carnival” derives from the Latin carne levare, which means, “to take away meat.”

Across the world, in Rio de Janeiro, Carnival has become such a massive event—so much so, in fact, that the country attracts 70 percent of its tourists during this time! Mardi Gras came to the United States in 1699, when French explorers Pierre and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne were sent to defend France’s claim on the territory of Louisiane. Today, Mardi Gras reigns strong in New Orleans. The season in New Orleans began several weeks ago.

REPENT AND BEGIN LENT
ON ASH WEDNESDAY

The Carnival season has ended and Lent begins on March 5, with Ash Wednesday.

In representation of the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert, Christians observe the 40 days of Lent (excluding Sundays) in preparation for Easter. On Ash Wednesday, able adults fast, and all able Christians abstain from meat and practice repentance. Records indicate that from the earliest centuries, the days preceding Jesus Christ’s death were filled with a solemnity of fasting and penitence.

The custom of clergy placing ashes upon the foreheads of the faithful is rooted in the practice of doing so as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. On Ash Wednesday, Christians recall their mortality and express sorrow for sins. Traditionally, palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday are burned into ashes for Ash Wednesday services, and the ashes are then blessed. (Catholic Culture has more.) The Catholic Church permits ashes on the forehead for anyone who wishes to receive them—not just baptized Catholics. Generally, the practice of ashes is kept by Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists and Anglicans.

Got kids? Help children to better understand the purpose of Lent with Sacrifice Beans (learn a how-to here).

Advent Sunday: Candles, pudding, Christmas joy on ‘Stir-Up Sunday’

December 01, 2013 by Leave a Comment

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1: Western Christians enter the season of Advent today, waiting in joyful anticipation for the coming of Jesus: today is Advent Sunday. Churches and families across America typically will light a first candle today in the Advent wreath, marking the weeks until Christmas. Some churches also are adding special St. Nicholas Day programs this week, to remind children that the roots of the Santa Claus legends spring from an actual Christian saint.

STIR-UP SUNDAY: Did you know that some churches also use the informal phrase Stir-Up Sunday? The phrase refers to the inspiration of the Advent season and comes from a 16th-Century Book of Common Prayer reading for the day: “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people.” But in the Victorian era, this was the day when British families gathered in the kitchen to stir up the Christmas pudding. Sometimes families would pop a coin into the mix as well—so that whoever happened to get that coin in a scoop of the finished pudding would have good luck. Unfortunately, with the … ahem, the advent of ready-made Christmas puddings, a national survey in the UK revealed that most children these days have never gathered with their parents to stir up a from-scratch pudding. (Read much more about The Flavors of Faith in Lynne Meredith Golodner’s book.)

Remember that Eastern Christians began their annual Nativity Fast in prayerful preparation for Christmas back on November 15!

For Western Christianity, the Advent season consists of four Sundays, all of which are marked with a candle on the traditional Advent Wreath. Many church groups offer inspirational resources:

CATHOLIC: Catholic Culture offers a prayer for the blessing of the Advent Wreath, recipes for plum pudding and fruit cake, and instructions for a Jesse Tree. Also, the readings for today are at the website for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

UNITED METHODIST: This year, the United Methodist Church has posted six sets of meditations for the weeks of Advent.

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH in AMERICA: The ELCA has an easy-to-download-and-print set of readings and reflections for lighting the Advent candles.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA): The Presbyterian Church has a colorful PDF with Advent readings.

ANGLICANS ONLINE: This isn’t a denominational website, but Anglicans Online has a very extensive Advent resources list of links.

Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches use violet-colored vestments and décor during Advent; the color is changed to rose on the third Sunday of Advent, or Guadete Sunday. The Advent season officially ends on the evening of December 24.

Lively Spirits of Halloween: All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day and Dia de los Muertos

October 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment

THURSDAY, OCT. 31: Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve).

FRIDAY, NOV. 1: All Saints’ Day.

SATURDAY, NOV. 2: All Souls’ Day.

NOV. 1-2: Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos).

FEW AMERICANS know the terms Hallowmass or Triduum of All Hallows, which refer to the traditional Christian remembrance of the saints who have passed from this world. Instead, for millions of men, women and children across the United States and around the world, the end of October brings the secular celebration of Halloween.

That’s 158 million souls in the U.S., to be exact, according to the annual Halloween survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF). This year’s report by the trade group is fueling predictions of a slight reduction in American festivities. The NRF says the 158 million celebrants, this year, will be down from a record 170 million last year. Experts claim that recent economic anxieties have American families hesitant about how much they will spend for candy and colorful costumes.

Nevertheless, the total outlay for this sugar-fueled blast are enormous! This year, “celebrants will spend $2.08 billion on candy and $360 million on greeting cards,” the NRF reports. Halloween now is “second only to Christmas in terms of spending on decorations; Americans will spend $1.96 billion on life-size skeletons, fake cob webs, mantle pieces and other festive decorations.”

What are typical Halloween customs today? We’ve now got annual tracking of the most popular Halloween habits by the NRF, which advises retailers on what to stock. Here are the most popular customs nationwide: “There are a variety of ways Americans will celebrate this year, with handing out candy being the most popular (72.0%). Others will carve a pumpkin (44.2%), visit a haunted house (20.3%), take their child trick-or-treating (31.7%) and decorate their home and/or yard (47.5%)—and 3 in 10 (30.9%) will make the most of the holiday by attending or hosting a party.”

Two well-established trends, this year, reported far and wide in news media: Producing pet costumes now is a multi-million-dollar business. And, TIME magazine reports: More money is spent on adult costumes than on children’s costumes—and your choice of costume may say a lot about your personality on this one flamboyant day, each year.

COMMUNICATING FROM THE DARK SIDE

Among the millions of adults who will dress up, this year, “costumes are communication devices,” writes TIME’s Halloween columnist Kit Yarrow, who chairs the psychology department of Golden Gate University. In her TIME article, Yarrow describes the meaning of several Halloween costuming trends, including a wide array of sexy costumes popular especially among college students and young adults.

More interesting, Yarrow writes, is the ongoing popularity of “dark side” costumes: “Vampires, grim reapers, devils, witches and other powerful, predatory characters are top costume picks across all adult age groups this year, as they have been for the past five years. Yes, dressing up as something spooky and scary is traditional for Halloween. But there may be something else at work here. In a political and economic era where people feel less certainty and control in their lives, there’s a certain allure to being a character that’s unburdened by empathy and more likely to be the perpetrator rather than the victim.”

CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES ON ALL SAINTS’ DAY

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops still reminds the faithful that All Saints is “a holy day of obligation.” The Feast of All Saints gives “Catholics the opportunity to honor all the saints, both those solemnly recognized by the Church and those whose holiness of life is known only to God and to those who knew them.”

The Catholic Bishops provide the readings for the Solemnity of All Saints on their website. The readings include the famous passage from the Bible’s book of Revelation in which John is given a glimpse of what Christians consider the communion of saints surrounding God—”a great multitude,  which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.”

On the following day, November 2, all the dead are remembered in Catholic liturgy of All Souls, for which the bishops also provide readings.

These Christian festivals date back more than a millennia to the age when church leaders were eager to eclipse ancient pagan festivities such as Samhain and Feralia. The establishment of a Triduum of All Hallows was largely a Western Church response to traditions that remained from Roman times. (Our Holidays & Festivals column also is covering Samhain, a festival with a growing number of celebrants around the world.)

Christian churches that look to the East already have celebrated this festival, which is connected to Pentecost in the Orthodox world and is called Sunday of All Saints. In our coverage of that Eastern Orthodox holiday in June, we reported in part: “The Sunday of All Saints always falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost—owing to the belief that the descent of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost) allows humans to rise above a fallen state and attain sainthood.”

DAY OF THE DEAD / DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

This hugely popular festival has spread from Mexico to many other parts of the world, mainly because of the creative folk art associated with the holiday: skeleton-themed costumes, decorations, dances and even toys for children. According to Wikipedia, the Mexican festival is usually described as a regional celebration of both the Catholic All Saints and All Souls holidays, spanning both November 1 and 2. However, “scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl.”

In a recent Huffington Post column, Dr. R. Andrew Chesnut, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, along with researcher David Metcalfe, wrote about the widespread and complex celebration of Dia de los Muertos these days. They wrote, in part: “Halloween and the Mexican death trinity of Day of the Dead, Catrina Calavera (Skeleton Dame), and Santa Muerte (Saint Death) engage millions of North and South Americans in rituals that reconnect us with our own mortality.”

They add, “While in the United States, All Hallows Eve has taken on the darker image of Halloween, with haunted houses, horror movie themes and the dead returning for trouble rather than tradition, in Latin America and Europe, where Catholic influences have remained strong, the first and second of November continue to hold their ancient ties to festivals associated with sacred remembrance of the influences found in the still living past. In Mexico, Dia de los Muertos … is a time to reconnect with deceased friends, family members and ancestors in a festive spirit of remembrance and celebration.”

ALL HALLOWS IN THE ARTS

The spiritual realm separating the living and the dead has fascinated Christian writers and artists for centuries. In 1945, Charles Williams wrote his final mystical novel about All Hallows’ Eve. For a time, Williams was a member of the famous group of authors and scholars known as the Inklings, a group that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Among the Inklings, Williams penned some of the most imaginative contemporary fiction, including this 1945 novel that explores what relationships might exist between the living and the dead. It opens with an eerie scene in which a dead woman finds her spirit, once again, wandering through London.

Want something less esoteric? The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has multiple lists, created by various IMDB users, recommending great Halloween movies. One of the biggest is this 100 Great Halloween Movies list.

Too scary? A lot of online movie buffs are offering kid-friendly lists of great Halloween movies. One of the best is a new posting in BuzzFeed, called 20 Movies to Watch with Your Kids  This Halloween. Want a more substantial authority picking the movies for your family? Try this Parenting list of 19 Best Halloween Movies for Kids.

(Originally published in readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul: Christian unity (and interfaith news)

June 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment

SATURDAY, JUNE 29: Fireworks explode over Rome, city shops and offices close their doors as the Eternal City celebrates its patron saints: Today is the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. One of the earliest celebrations of the Christian Church, the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul memorializes their martyrdom in Rome and praises their crucial roles in the early Church.

Of all the disciples, Jesus proclaimed only to Peter: “Blessed are you … And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” The world’s billion Catholics regard that passage of the Bible as validating the traditional Catholic claim that Peter became Christianity’s first Pope and Rome’s first bishop. Of course, historians debate the exact nature of Peter’s role in early Christianity and the world’s millions of Protestants don’t read that passage of the Bible in the same light.

Nevertheless, this is a important holiday around the Vatican. Each year on June 29, the Pope presents the special vestment known as a pallium to newly created metropolitan archbishops in a ceremony meant to illustrate the union between the successor of St. Peter and the leaders of local churches.

Just days ago in Vatican City, Pope Francis met with key members of the Sts. Peter and Paul Association. In a message of gratitude, Pope Francis thanked those who assist pilgrims at St. Peter’s Basilica and multiple charities across Rome. “It is beautiful to be part of an association like yours,” attested Pope Francis. “Above all charity … is a distinctive sign of the Christian.”

ST. PAUL: MAJOR FORCE IN FOUNDING CHRISTIANITY

Catholics and Protestants agree that St. Paul was a major force in establishing Christianity as a world religion. Paul wrote many of the books in the New Testament of the Bible. He tirelessly carried the Christian message across the Middle East and into Europe, advising churches around the Mediterranean region. (Read more about this Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul at American Catholic or the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.)

Note: Both the Eastern and Western Christian Churches recognize the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul today. For those following the Julian calendar, June 29 falls on the Gregorian date of July 12.

INTERFAITH NEWS: POPE FRANCIS & JEWISH LEADERS

While most news reports out of the Vatican, this week, center on the annual festivities for Sts. Peter and Paul—and the honors bestowed on Catholic bishops with the pallium—Pope Francis also made interfaith news this week. On June 24, he held his first formal meeting with Jewish leaders through the International Jewish Committee on Inter-religious Consultations.

New York Jewish Week reported favorably on the meeting. A column on the meeting from the American Jewish Committee’s Rabbi Noam Marans included this background: “As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis was exemplary in developing relationships with the local Jewish community, reaching out in solidarity in the wake of the 1994 terrorist bombing of AMIA, the Jewish community center, in which 85 were killed and hundreds were wounded. He regularly visited local synagogues and met with rabbis, and established a permanent Holocaust memorial and commemorations at Buenos Aires’ cathedral. His one book, ‘On Heaven and Earth,’ was co-authored with Rabbi Avraham Skorka, a record of their televised dialogue on diverse issues.”

Read Francis’s entire declaration for the occasion at the Vatican website, including these lines: “Humanity needs our joint witness in favor of respect for the dignity of man and woman created in the image and likeness of God, and in favour of peace which is above all God’s gift.”

After the meeting, Rabbi David Rosen wrote: “Pope Francis is a very good friend of the Jewish People and we rejoice in the fact that he will continue to advance the path of his predecessors in deepening the Catholic-Jewish relationship even further.”

Feast of John the Baptist: East and West come together to celebrate the Forerunner of Jesus

June 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

MONDAY, JUNE 24: An unparalleled human birth is celebrated across the Eastern and Western Christian Church today, on the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Or, in Eastern churches and communities around the world, many call this the Nativity of St. John the Forerunner.

Wikipedia has more on the Nativity. And, Catholics can find all of the Bible readings for the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist online now, thanks to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Virtually all saints are commemorated on the day of their death—the day of entrance into heaven—except for St. John the Baptist and Jesus’s mother Mary. Christians also mark Jesus’s Nativity. But these Nativity feasts are exceptional customs intended for figures the Christian church traditionally believes were born without sin.

John also holds special status because the celebration of his birth has such ancient roots. Unlike many newer Christian holidays, John’s birth has been celebrated since the early centuries of Christianity. Why? In part because his birth is detailed in the Christian Bible. His birth became a first step in foretelling the coming of Jesus.

Care to read the entire story? You will find it only in the Gospel of Luke and, while the Catholic readings listed above contain part of the gospel story, here is the entire account which extends from Luke 1 verse 5 through 80. The passage contains some of the most beautiful and widely repeated lines in the New Testament, including Mary’s own hymn of praise.

AN ASCETIC FORETELLS THE KINGDOM

Years passed, and John became an ascetic in the desert before announcing the coming of the Kingdom, calling all people to undergo a reformation. John announced his purpose as being solely to prepare the way for a Messiah. Hundreds came to the banks of the Jordan River, including Jesus, whom John immediately recognized. John sent all of his followers to Jesus, insisting that “He (Jesus) must increase; I must decrease.” Some interpret John’s statement as indicating the cycles of the sun and, therefore, cuing its proximity to summer solstice; Augustine explained that John’s observance falls close to the summer solstice because Jesus’ falls close to the winter solstice. Both are festivals of light, and bonfires on St. John’s Eve have been a popular custom for millennia.

PAGANS & CHRISTIANS & St. John’s Fire

In many communities around the world, St. John’s Eve still is greeted with St. John’s Fire. If that reminds you of pagan customs associated with the Solstice, then you’ve got a talent for cultural anthropology. Think about the ancient origins of the St. John the Baptist Nativity holiday, and its placement on a fixed date close to the Solstice, and the resulting Christian-Pagan friction across Europe is not surprising.

In a recent Scientific American column, Maria Konnikova reports on the diverse array of customs surrounding the Solstice. Among them is St. John’s Eve and St. John’s Fire. She writes: “With the rise of Christianity and accompanying threat to pagan traditions, the summer solstice became celebrated in many parts of Europe as the day of St. John the Baptist—St. John’s Eve in Denmark, the Feast of St. John in France, the festival of St. John the Baptist in Spain, Ivan Kupala Day in Russia.”

Across the U.S., customs vary widely so check your local news media. A news report from northern Kentucky says that Episcopal churches in that region plan to combine their Monday evening liturgies for St. John’s Nativity at a central location. In California, the San Juan Bautista Mission is combining St. John’s Nativity with a fiesta to recall the early Hispanic settlers who built the mission. Of course, you will find the most lively observances in parishes named for St. John the Baptist.

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(Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion, spirituality, interfaith news and cross-cultural issues.)

FEAST OF THE ASCENSION: Christians rejoice in Christ’s rising

May 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

THURSDAY, MAY 9 & SUNDAY, MAY 12: Head to the hills today—if you’re a Christian, that is—because today is the Feast of the Ascension, celebrating Christ’s raising up into Heaven. In many areas, it’s common to climb nearby hills or mountains to commemorate Jesus ascending from what is traditionally described as the Mount of Olives. The feast is the Ascension (or Ascensio in Latin) to indicate to Christians Christ was raised up by His own powers.

Although the feast officially falls on May 9—and June 13, in the Eastern Church—most countries have received permission from the Vatican to move the feast’s observance to Sunday. (Wikipedia has details.) Australia, Ireland, Canada, England and most of the United States are just a few of the countries that will commemorate the Feast of the Ascension on Sunday, although a few U.S. cities—including Boston, New York and Philadelphia—retain the Thursday observance.

The Feast of the Ascension remains, quite possibly, one of the oldest commemorations of the Church. Although there is no documentary evidence of the feast prior to the 5th century, St. Augustine mentions it to be of Apostolic origin, and experts believe it may have instead been observed in combination with Easter or Pentecost.

Regardless, various customs have arisen through the centuries for this holiday, ranging from torch processions outside of churches to the elevation of a Christ figure through an opening in the church roof. In England, parishioners would often parade a banner with a lion at the front and a dragon at the back, symbolizing Christ’s triumph over the devil. Johann Sebastian Bach composed multiple cantatas for today’s services. (Learn more customs from FishEaters.)

POPE FRANCIS ON THE ASCENSION

Pope Francis recently preached about the Feast of the Ascension, in a declaration of “The courage to do great things, the humility to appreciate the little things.” Though observing the Feast of St. Mark at the time, Pope Francis spoke of the passage in the Gospel of Mark that describes the Ascension of Jesus. The homily focused on Jesus, prior to the Ascension, sending the apostles forth to preach the Gospel “to the end of the world.” (Read more from Radio Vatican.) Pope Francis urged today’s Christians, in a likewise manner, should continue this vocation.