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On Faith Franklin Chun |
Certain foods figure
into Lent traditionLent -- no, that's not loaned out! This is the church's season of "Lent."
By itself the word Lent refers to springtime (an Anglo-Saxon word), since this season always comes at the end of winter, and longer days (a German word), when the days lengthen noticeably while the nights are shorter.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25th, this year. On that day ashes from burned palms, from a previous Palm Sunday, are marked on a person's forehead in the sign of a cross as the priest proclaims, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Scripture mentions that ashes are especially reserved for those who are penitent.
Lent spans a period of 40 days before Easter, commemorating the 40 days of struggle and fasting that Jesus endured before beginning his ministry. The season of Lent ends with Holy Saturday, April 10. The six Sundays that occur during the Lenten season are not counted as part of Lent, since Sundays are a commemoration of the first Easter Sunday, the day of Christ's resurrection.
For Christians, Lent is a time of personal reflection and devotion, doing something with one's faith in preparation for Easter. Some Christians will do a spiritual discipline of prayer. Some will do additional readings of Scripture or a devotional book. Some will take on special tasks for one's church or community. A few may monetarily give to a cause. Others will try to improve relationships with God and/or each other.
Food figures in the traditions of Lent.
Doughnuts, pancakes, malasadas: Around the year 600, Pope Gregory the Great decreed for Lent, "We abstain from flesh meat, and things of the flesh, milk, cheese, eggs, and butter." The day before Lent was then known as Fat Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday), when such products had to be used up. Housewives in England came up with the idea of making pancakes. Malasadas were probably created in Portugal for the same reason. In Germany, doughnuts were made. One legend mentions that a Christian cook wanted to invent a soul-cake, which would remind everyone of God's continuous, everlasting life. The cook cut out the middle of the cake dough, dropped the larger portion into hot, oily fat, and the doughnut was born!
Pretzels: The pretzel was traditionally eaten on Ash Wednesday, since it was made only from flour, salt and water. The word is a German one meaning "little arms," and if you used your imagination, you might see the shape of a person behind the crossed pretzel arms, folded in front in an act of prayer. In the fifth century, monks made pretzels to distribute to the poor in place of bread.
Hot cross buns: These were originally made in the form of an unleavened bread. Gradually they became the sweet raised buns with raisins in the batter, and white icing in the form of a cross at the top. Made on the holy day of Good Friday, the buns were believed to have curative and magical properties for good luck. They were held for months and used, finely grated and mixed with water, as a remedy for diarrhea, dysentery and kindred complaints.
Eggs: The egg is a symbol of new life. Birth from an egg is certainly different from the way humans and most animals are born. What an appropriate symbol, then, for Christ's Easter resurrection.
Easter baskets are copies of birds' newly woven nests, and we use them as we hunt for eggs to place in those hand-carried nests. Traditionally, eggs are colored red to symbolize Jesus' blood that was shed. In Yugoslavia, eggs are decorated with an "X" and a "V" ("Christos vaskrese," meaning Christ is risen).
The eggshell itself looks like a hardened stone tomb. Jesus' opened tomb on Easter was symbolized when shells were cracked in egg fights known as "shackling," where opponents knocked eggs together. The greeting "Christ is risen" was answered, "The Lord is risen indeed."
For 2004, I pray that your Lent may be a more meaningful one!
The Rev. Franklin Chun is rector of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Kaimuki.
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