Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten Season and a day when many receive ashes, marked in a cross on our foreheads as a symbol of our mortality.
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Receiving Ashes on Ash Wednesday
I remember receiving ashes in school as a little girl in Dublin. We held the hair of our fringes (bangs in America) to one side, closed our eyes and prayed for a huge daub of black ash to land right smack in the middle of our foreheads.
Whoever got the darkest marking wore it with pride. The blacker the ash, the greater the heavenly trophy. We loved to compare foreheads to decide who won the "ashes" that year.
What Are You Giving Up For Lent - School Time Answers
But our school girl banter did not end there. Ash Wednesday discussions centered on the burning question of the day ....
"What are you giving up for Lent?"
Our biggest wish was to respond ......
"I'm giving up school for Lent."
And we thought we were ever so funny when we answered ....
"I'm givin' up givin' up things for Lent."
Remember I was a Dublin school girl, so the final "g" in every "-ing" word was optional.
But usually we settled on givin' up sweets (candy) for 40 long days and nights.
Now if you were lucky you lived in a house where your mother agreed with the Church and accepted that Sundays are not technically part of Lent. A little indulgence might be allowed on the Sabbath Day.
But not in our house. My mother stuck to her theory that it would be too difficult to give it all up again every Monday morning. She believed it was easier to simply stay off the sweets until Easter Sunday.
Saint Patrick's Day - Our Lenten Reprieve
But on one special day we jumped straight off that sweet wagon. We were granted one, and only one, Lenten reprieve.
To celebrate our favorite saint, the most famous of all adopted Irishmen, St. Patrick himself, my sisters and I had a little treat or two or three.
Oh let's face it! On St. Paddy's Day we gorged on sweets and chocolate to honor our patron saint all day long.
And once again on March 18th we suffered through our sugar withdrawals. I've no idea why we thought is was so difficult because we didn't even give up biscuits or cake for Lent.
Our sacrifices were no where near a complete sugar separation, but in stoic Irish fashion we supposedly endured our abstinence from sweets for the remaining days of our penitential torture.
A Lenten Confession
To start this Lenten Season off on the right footing confession time has arrived for me.
"I confess to you, that in my early years I never succeeded in adhering to my Lenten sacrifices."
I feel better already for sharing my fallibility with you. Let me explain my childhood sins.
When "off the sweets" for Lent my sisters and I collected any sweets and treats from our relatives and parents and saved them in a jar for Easter Sunday. The chocolate bars I left unwrapped, but if I got my hands on a packet of jelly tots or dolly mixtures I opened the packet and emptied those sweet temptations into my jar.
Our jars were placed on the highest shelf of the dresser. And if I ever found myself all by my lonesome, staring at my saved jar of sweeties, I confess I scaled that dresser, fumbled with the lid of the jar, and sneaked out a jelly or two to sooth my sugar cravings.
Invariably one of my sisters or my mother arrived back into the kitchen before I had completely scoffed my loot. That's how I learned how to make candy last a long time, allowing it to melt sweetly and quietly on my tongue without being noticed.
I nearly got caught red handed on many an occasion. My mother must have thought I took a vow of silence for Lent, I was left speechless so often.
My sister was always pleasantly surprised when she finally opened her sweet packages and emptied them into her jar on Easter Sunday. For some 'strange' reason she always ended up with far more sweets than I did.
A few years ago we were reminiscing about our days of Lenten sweet saving and she admitted she knew I was "on the take" all through Lent. But I still got some Chocolate Easter Eggs to celebrate the season.
And so now, I turn the clock forward. Once again I am going to try to give up candy and chocolate for Lent. I hope I will succeed this time.
If you have any stories about your childhood Lenten sacrifices, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.
Wishing every one success on your Lenten missions this year.
Slán agus beannacht,
(Goodbye and blessings)
Mairéad -Irish American Mom
Pronunciation - slawn ah-gus ban-ock-th
Mairéad - rhymes with parade
Here are some more ramblings you might enjoy...
Irish Blessings and Sayings About Faith
The Breastplate of Saint Patrick
Alicia
I, too, remember wearing ashes on my forehead as a badge of honor. I always prayed for the gigantic ashen cross and often admired the near perfectly excecuted cross on my friends and classmates. Your inclusion of the "What to Give Up" really resonated with me. I printed it out and am hanging it on my refrigerator for a reminder to myself this Lenten season.
Thank you!!
Irish American Mom
Hi Alicia - Isn't that graphic just wonderful! It resonated with me too. I love your idea of placing it in a prominent place as a daily reminder.
And I'm glad to hear I wasn't alone in my childhood desire for a big splodge of forehead ashes.
Best wishes,
Mairéad
T.M. Johnson
IAM, my first exposure to the tradition of Lent and Ash Wednesday happened when I was a freshman in college. I was living with my grandparents in Seattle and their house was two or three blocks away from Seattle U, a Catholic university. I could see the campus corridors from Grandparents' livingroom. One mornign I recall seeing burlap clad figures strolling the campus and first thought that it was a theme day of some sort. Later that day on the UW campus I saw some students with sooty foreheads and again was amazed. Growing up a country boy in a non-denominational church and attending a very small high school, allowed little opportunity for us provincials to learn about other cultures, religions, and traditions.Thus my first year of college provided this country boy and education far beyond the "liberal arts."
To this sometime Methodist, your post reminded me the woodstove needs cleaning. And didn't the Lenten tradition begin as a convenience for shunning obnoxious vegetables like okra? Or is that just more of my backwoods ignorance showing?
Irish American Mom
Hi T.M. - I love your college story and your introduction to some of our strange Catholic customs. A sooty forehead on Ash Wednesday was just part and parcel of my Irish childhood. When I was young nearly everyone wore an ash mark on this holy day. Back then over 90% of Ireland's population was Catholic and practicing Catholics too. Ireland's demographics have changed in the past 20 years. As for shunning obnoxious vegetables during Lent - that never was an option for us. Mom wouldn't hear of it. She insisted we give up something we really enjoyed eating - no broccoli or parsnsips ever made our lenten sacrifice list unfortunately.
Lovely to hear your take on this tradition.
Best wishes,
Mairéad
Patricia
I just got back a while ago from getting my ginormous thumbprint of ashes, lol!
Not until I was older did I find out Sundays "didn't count." I think my parents may have neglected to tell us that intentionally... When I was in my late teens, and old enough to stay up and watch Saturday Night Live on tv though, let's just say that the scooter pies were cracked open at the stroke of midnight!
This year, along with sweets, amd more importantly, there are several things on your list above that I hope to give up first for Lent and then permanently. However, I do hope to attend mass daily as the weather allows.
Any recipes for meatless days, Mairead? 🙂
Irish American Mom
Hi Patricia - It's good to know I wasn't the only one who was kept in the dark about Sundays not being official days of the Lenten Season. I love your story about watching Saturday Night Live and delving in to scooter pies. I don't think I've every had a scooter pie. Remember when Little Debbie's were taken off the market. I told a friend I had never tasted one, and she couldn't believe it. Sweet American childhood treats where just not available in Ireland. 🙂
I do have some fish recipes I plan to share this Lent. I'm thinking about cooking some Irish fish cakes, and a fish pie. Just got to find the time to photograph the process and edit the shots.
All the best,
Mairéad
Patricia
Mairead, scooter pies are like moon pies. It is a regional thing, I never had one while I lived in N.Y.
Can't wait for the fish recipes! 🙂
Irish American Mom
Patricia - I've heard of moon pies, alright. I did a quick google search to check out Scooter Pies. We ate Choco Mallows in Ireland which I think are very similar. Yummy!
I'll have to cook some fish this week and prepare a post for next week.
All the best,
Mairéad
JJT
Candy was usually the order of Lenten sacrifice in our house, and I always remember that small tub of soft mints my mother kept in the sideboard would call you as you walked by.... and thinking back, they were very melty on the tongue, so I'm sure I employed the same technique of angelic silence as you did when in flagrante delicto. 😉
Love the Ashes to Go photo - our church (St. Patrick's of course!) has a small table of self-serve ashes with prayers to say set up for commuters to use before masses start up on Ash Wednesday. When my wife mentioned it to our neighbor today, she told her about our "Drive-Through Ashes"
Irish American Mom
JJT - I think "Drive Through Ashes" could really catch on. And I like how your church caters for commuters. "Drive Through Ashes" reminded me of a church in Daytona Beach Shores in Florida, that actually provides a drive-thru service on Sunday mornings. The church building is very small but there is a huge parking lot. I wonder if it still exists. I lived in Daytona Beach for over 8 years, and I'm sorry I never ventured to a drive-thru service one Sunday to see what it was all about.
All the best,
Mairéad
Ray Brown
Dear Mairead,
Although I went to church this evening and got my cross on my forehead, I did not give anything up for Lent. I just got too frustrated with trying to keep my commitment and finding that my record for breaking my Lenten promise got quicker and quicker every year. (My great aunt, a nun, and my great uncle, a priest) must be rolling in their graves since I have not given things up for a number of years. I really tried, like stopping the eating of sweets, but then I would break it quicker and quicker as each year passed.
When I go to church on Ash Wednesdays, as I wait in line for a cross, I see some beautiful crosses and some that look like a smudge only, or a crooked cross on someone's forehead. I always hope that I get one of the beautiful crosses but I think the priest can read through me and he must say, "I know this guy did not even try to give something up; therefore, I will give him the most tired cross in the congregation". I guess it serves me right!
Patricia
Ray, perhaps your "giving up" is too broad and doomed to fail. Start smaller. Instead of giving up all sweets for instance, be more specific. Give up just candy. Or just cookies. Still time to start!
Ray Brown
Dear Patricia,
At my age, I don't want to give up anything anymore, but thanks for trying to put me on the road to saint hood. Frankly, I think that is a lonely road , and I would still rather eat the cookies, candy and chocolate. In fact, just talking about it makes my mouth run. I now will run for my bib, cookies and chocolate.
Irish American Mom
Ray and Patricia - One of my boys has given up fruit jelly candy for Lent - just one specific kind. Somehow I think he'll be successful.
Mairéad
Irish American Mom
Ray - I ended up with a smudge on my forehead this year too. It sounds like you're "givin' up givin' up things for Lent". And I think that's just fine. Like you I find giving up sweets very difficult. I gave up on New Year's resolutions a few years back, and I'm very close to giving up giving up things for Lent. I'm trying to stay off chocolate this year because I feel like I've been on a chocolate binge since last Halloween. I'm only on day 2, and I'm struggling already to not cave in and have a little treat.
Take care and thanks for stopping by,
Mairéad
Cheryl Barker
Mairead, loved how you and your friends said "I'm givin' up givin' up things for Lent." 🙂 The church denomination I've been a part of most of my life doesn't follow the practice of giving up things for Lent so I don't have any stories myself. I think I would have failed, too, if I had to give up chocolate! 🙂
Irish American Mom
Hi Cheryl - Giving up chocolate is way too difficult. This year my eldest son decided he didn't want to give up anything for Lent. He told me he likes chocolate too much and it would just be impossible to keep a promise not to eat it. Instead he decided to work on getting ready a little quicker in the mornings, so we don't end up rushing out the door to be on time for school. I liked his positive proposal. Giving things up can end up being a little negative so we're working for positive change instead. 🙂
All the best,
Mairéad
brian@irelandfavorites
You make me smile Mairead. For Lent I usually give up my New Years Resolutions,
Cheers,
Brian.
Irish American Mom
Good one Brian. I'm only on day 2 without chocolate, candy and sweet stuff and I'm in sugar withdrawal. Forty-five more days to go, or let's say forty-four not counting Paddy's Day.
All the best,
Mairéad