Growing up in a Catholic household and going to catholic school, I remember Ash Wednesday as the day we went to church. Usually, we were at school as it was a Wednesday and there would be a mass. We would receive the ashes on our forehead in the sign of the cross. As a children we use to play this game and see who could keep the ash on their forehead for the longest. So we would run around the playground trying to catch the other kids and remove the ashes. I never really understood the whole purpose of the ashes and that it was to stay on our foreheads until sundown. But if you would like to know more about Ash Wednesday you can find out about it hereand here.I was talking to a colleague at work the other day and she had brought in this wonderful loaf for our coffee break. She said she had to get rid of sweets out of her house as she was giving up sweets for Lent. Ah yes, another memory. Lent and giving things up. I never did very well at that. Kinda like the New Years resolutions. Never did very good at that either. I never really understood why we did all of these things...I just knew we did them because we had always done them. I guess that is why I never made a very good Catholic. I never understood a lot of why we did what we did. It just seemed to we did it because it had always been done that way.
I was a little bit of a rebel right from the get go. I should have known something was wrong when in grade one I got sent out of the class because I challenged Sister Mary about blind faith. She really didn't like me asking question like "why". I can tell you I had my ear tugged more than once. It wasn't until I was in grade 11 and we had the coolest religion teacher and she taught us about other faiths which truly interested me. I thought if anyone was going to give me the straight good on religion it was her. She was willing to let us think for ourselves and let us explore our faith and not just accept it in blind faith, which as you know I couldn't do.
I always wanted answers. I never understood why we never studied the bible. Why we only took scriptures out that were pertinent to the topic we were dealing with, rather than looking at the bible as a whole. I never understood the whole "Immaculate conception" I mean scientifically it is impossible but if you are of religious faith you believe and accept it as being so.
I just find it all so strange. My parents did everything the catholic church asked. They didn't practice birth control, hence 12 children, we all went to catholic schools....my father and mother worked hard to pay for us all to go through private schools, because that is what the church wanted and expected, we went to church every Sunday. During the Easter season there was Palm Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, and Easter Sunday masses. We never ate meat on Fridays or Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday was Pancake Wednesday. Seemed like we were always at church during the Easter season. The one mass I never liked was Good Friday. According to the Bible that is the day Jesus dies on the cross. I found this mass so dark and depressing, and really long. Lots of kneeling up and down. I always remember it raining on Good Friday which just added to the doom and gloom. Mass was always at 3:00 in the afternoon I can't remember why. Another reason why I never made a very good Catholic. The rain seemed to continued until Easter Sunday, and at some point in the day on Easter Sunday the sun would shine.
I am not meaning to be disrespectful to anyone who is of the Catholic faith. I am just sharing my memories of the whole Easter season and how I felt about it.
On a brighter note to Easter, I also remember it as being a time when we would all get new spring outfits. My mom made sure we all had new hats, dresses and gloves for the girls and new pants and shirts and ties for the boys. I loved the colouring of the Easter eggs and the family gatherings. Oh yes I do have fond memories of Easter but I shall save that for another post.
Happy Ash Wednesday.
14 comments:
This post could have been all about me! It was the same thing in my house...we followed everything like Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, etc. As I got older I would question all these beliefs and was told to hush and just do as I was told. Now, I no longer follow many of these traditions...my mom, though, still follows them and she was just telling me today that she's quit eating desserts for Lent...I just couldn't do it! lol I'm Catholic and I believe in God...but I now do it in my own way:-) Hugs xox
i always liked ash wednesday b/c of faschnauts. [not sure if thats how they're spelled...]
I am not Catholic and never understood anything about lent and all that stuff that my friends talked about....I even went through a spell where I wished I was Cahtolic so I would fit in with my friends. But Easter, I knew about. Besides Christ having rose from the grave it did mean the arrival of new clothes and colored eggs and baskets with candy.....hooray for the chocolate cande!
Yes Pea...Shrove Tuesday...we recognized that as well.....I was mistaken we had fish on Ash Wednesday and the pancakes on Tuesday....did you know that Shrove Tuesday is primarily recognized in the UK and Australia. My mom grew up in England but was of Irish heritage. It's all so very interesting do ya think?
Martie as for converting just to be like the rest...poo poo to that....it was nice that you would consider it....I liked the candy, and egg hunt as well...
I'm fairly certain that Catholics believe that Jesus suffered from 3pm to 5pm, which might explain why Mass was at 3pm.
I was raised in the Catholic Church, though neither of my parents were full fledged Catholics. My dad never finished his religious education and my mother was raised Baptist and never converted due to personal reasons. So neither one of them were examples of how a Catholic should act...we were never good at keeping the Holy Days straight besides the major ones. I went to religion classes, hated them but did what I had to do. Most of it never stuck with me though. I haven't thought about Lent, or what to give up and well, we're having Chicken for dinner tonight.
I think I give my family an F in religion.
I'm not Catholic, but I can understand why the observances of this particular Wednesday seemed a pain in the ash to you. ;-)
I think the reason why denominations that are strong on strict dogma like to pull out verses pertinent to the situation at hand is that, without context, one may marshal biblical support for almost anything:
"And Judas went out and hung himself"
"Go thou and do likewise"
"what thou doest, do quickly"
Absurd, I know, but it illustrates toe problem.
I enjoyed reading this.
I was raised Presbyterian. I had been a member of a Methodist church for many years... then we left because it got crazy. Now we attend a Presbyterian church we are not too happy with....
I like your blog :-)
I'm Protestant, so I never really understood the whole ashes on forehead thing. I was talking to some Catholic friends about it tonight, and they didn't know why they did it, either.
Proves your point that some people do what they do because it's always been done, and no other real reason.
Your post brought back memories. Yes, as I think back it does seem to be so dark and dreary on Good Fridays...
I'm another non-Catholic, but my mom was Episcopalian and we did Lent. I always tried to slide by with giving up homework or something.
I remember getting Easter dresses, hats, white gloves and a new purse :)
I can relate to the Ash Wednesday story about the ashes. I remember as a kid thinking I don't want this gross stuff on my forehead! I was embarassed to walk around with ashes. Now, it doesn't bother me so much. I guess it is a time to reflect. You live your life as to what you believe. I believe in what I was raised and taught to believe. The giving up something for lent, as a kid it was torture giving up candy or watching tv after school, but as an adult I think there is a lot more we can do. Giving of our time is hard for us to do, but the benefits to the people we help....is priceless!
Neat post; I've never gone too near the whole Easter holiday and stuff, so this was neat to read.
Happy Lenten season!
I was raised in the Lutheran faith and am still a semi-faithful member of our church here. The family next door to us, when I was a kid, were strong Catholics who never missed a service - of any type. As a youngster, I remember the Catholic kids arriving at school on the morning of Ash Wednesday with the sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads but our church, at that time, never had any special services on Ash Wednesday that I recollect. Over the years though, we now have a service on Ash Wednesday, complete with receiving the sign of the cross on the forehead.
When I was a child, I almost lived at the neighbor's home and often, when there if it was another special holy day and the kids had to says special prayers, etc., their mother would ship me off to the bedroom with her children to learn the prayers with her kids. This area was then very prejudcial with respect to religion and catholics and protestants didn't usually intermingle very much. My grandmother, being very old school in that respect, would probably have gone into cardiac arrest had she ever known that I learned many catholic prayers with the neighbors kids and even knelt together with them to recite those prayers too! (I had learned by age 8 or so not to mention at home some things like that of which I was a participant!
Yes, a year later, someone is still reading your blogs. :)
I was raised Roman Catholic on the other coast from you, in New Brunswick. I lived next door to the church and had religion taught in school so there was no getting out of it. After my mother remarried at age 10, we moved to England. Couldn't find a Roman Catholic church nearby and I rebeled about that time so we didn't go much. Sometimes I was left at home. (yay!)
As an adult, I do not practice. I do not believe in blind faith. A lot of it doesn't make sense to me and I will not just take bits and pieces that do make sense.
BUT with all of that said. I miss the traditions. The hollow chocolate bunny for easter, the painting of the eggs, midnight mass and being in the live manger. The singing, the spirit of the seasons. making things out of the reeds with my grandmother. I still can't get it right without her.
Tradition is very strong.
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