It’s that time of year again, when grocers put out stacks of Paczki’s without any explanation. They just mysteriously appear, and I wonder how many people wonder – what is a paczki? Why do they show up at the end of winter? What’s the story behind the paczki? How do you even say “paczki” – putch-key? patch-key? puz-chkai?
So as you may know, today is Fat Tuesday, or more famously known as Mardi Gras. It’d be easy to think that this is a New Orleans thing, or a South American thing (where they call it Carnival). Nope, it’s a Christian thing! Surprise!
The Christian church calendar is marked by four major seasons – Advent/Christmas/Epiphany, Lent, Easter & Pentecost, and Ordinary Time. Ash Wednesday is the first day of the Lenten Season, a time of 40 days leading up to Easter (not including Sundays) where Christians fast (for a variety of reasons) from food items (often unhealthy ones) bad habits they’ve been meaning to give up, or immature attitudes towards others.
Lent was famous for fasting from all rich foods, especially meat. As the times changed, so did the restrictions,one of them being you could eat fish on Fridays as a substitute for beef (hence all the Arby’s commercials for their fish sandwiches)!
To prepare for Lent, it was important to get rid of all the banned food from the house so that you would not be tempted during the 40 days (reminiscent of Christ’s fast in the wilderness). Instead of throwing the food in the garbage, the people would have a huge feast and eat up all the banned food on the day before Lent, hence Fat Tuesday.
We live in a day where the Christian church calendar does not dictate our public lives. It barely directs the lives of some Christians. All Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter though. And most Christians say that Easter is the most important holy day, but they actually spend more time preparing and celebrating Christmas. So what’s a way to embody your value of Easter? Join the church in fasting for forty days during Lent. And how do you prepare for Lent? Celebrate Fat Tuesday!
For Fat Tuesday, eat a paczki, or have pancakes for dinner! Make them extra rich, lather them with icing, or pudding or sprinkled with your favorite candy like Reese’s Pieces and gummy bears (that’s what we do)! In England it’s called Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday!
For Ash Wednesday, let it be a fast day – maybe just stick to water and a small apple or little bit of bread and very small dinner of veggies. For Lent, pray about something the Lord may want you to give up for the season as a way to prepare for Easter. The point is to deny yourself something you enjoy, but the point of that is to make it a spiritual practice, one that uses your craving to prompt prayerful reflection on your life with God. Let your desire for “it” be a reminder to pray for others, to be attentive to what the Lord wants you to be hungry for.
In Lent we deny ourselves. In the season of Easter and Pentecost, we start up something new, something good, something that is inspired by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and new life that comes from the Holy Spirit.
So on this Fat Tuesday, as you feast, prayerfully consider what the Lord may have you fast from. And then be praying what new thing he may want you to begin in Easter.
In the meantime, enjoy those paczki’s and pancakes!
