40 Days of Quadragesima

Here is some interesting Lent trivia.

The capybara kap-i-‘bar-uh,
hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, is a semi-aquatic rodent of South and Central America.
It is the only species in its genus, which belongs to the family Hydrochoeridae,
order Rodentia.

When the Spanish missionaries
found the capybara in Brazil during the 16th century, they wrote to the Pope
to ask – there’s an animal here that’s scaly but also hairy, spends most of
its time in the water but occasionally comes on land; can we classify it as
a fish (and thus, the indigenous people could continue to eat it during Lent)?.
Not having a clear description of the animal (and not wanting the petitioners
to starve), the Pope agreed and declared it to be a fish.

The pretzel has a deep spiritual meaning
for Lent. In fact, it was the ancient Christian Lenten bread as far back as
the fourth century. In the old Roman Empire, the faithful kept a very strict
fast all through Lent: no milk, no butter, no cheese, no eggs, no cream and
no meat. They made small breads of water, flour and salt, to remind themselves
that Lent was a time of prayer. They shaped these breads in the form of crossed
arms for in those days they crossed their arms over the breast while praying.
Therefore they called the breads “little arms” (bracellae). From this Latin
word, the Germanic people later coined the term “pretzel.”
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The Teutonic word Lent, which we employ to denote the forty days’
fast preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the spring season. Still
it has been used from the Anglo-Saxon period to translate the more significant
Latin term quadragesima (Fr. car�me, It. quaresima, Span. cuaresma), meaning
the “forty days”, or more literally the “fortieth day”. This in turn imitated
the Greek name for Lent, tessarakoste (fortieth), a word formed on the analogy
of Pentecost (pentekoste), which last was in use for the Jewish festival before
New Testament times.

Carnival means "farewell to meat.”

It was thought that misfortune would come to those who married
during lent – “Marry in Lent, live to repent” – because lent was a time for
abstinence.

Now as for me I will give up French Toast for Lent, mainly because
I am tired of picking out those little white flags from between my teeth. I
might be a Secular Discalced Carmelite but that does not mean that I prefer
Floss Carmeli.