lent

today marks the beginning of lent (and it was begun with me bumping into Br Luc in the smoking area frantically trying to get a fire going so he could prepare some ashes - it's not quite what one expects right after breakfast).

living in a monastery and eating regularly with the community means that i participate in how the community follows lent. i am not planning on giving anything else up for lent and am glad not to feel pressured to do more (not having grown up in a tradition that made much of fasting and lent, it’s not something i feel i have to do – but try to use lent as an opportunity to fast from something that has become unhealthily overwhelming in my life – last year it was television). i’ve decided that i’ll be keeping lent the same way as the community – no more and no less (so i’ll still be eating hagel slag [chocolate hail/sprinkles] on my bread at breakfast - although this might be an opportunity to wean myself off the snooze button again). i hope and expect to learn and grow from the experience.

so how do we keep lent here?

well, first there is Shrove Tuesday - the day before Ash Wednesday. in the English speaking world the traditional meal is pancakes (once upon a time one would make pancakes to get rid of all the lard in the house). however, in the Netherlands, it’s spare ribs – and some kind of delightful dessert. so we had spare ribs (which normally we don’t have the budget for – and there was much more meat than normal). and some delightful chocolate chunked ice cream. and after chapel, we had cream-filled little cakes. definitely stuffed by the end of the evening. all of that to wallow in the things we will be missing for the next forty days.

lent brings in suppers that are vegetarian (only eggs, cheese, and fish are allowed). and there is no longer dessert – only a candy (since we don’t generally have snacks here (except for the odd donuts we get with the donated bread) that means we’re for the most part giving up sweets). the dessert i’ll miss somewhat but the vegetarian part i’m looking forward to – i really like vegetables and one tends to get more of them when there’s less meat. and the biggest change actually is how we eat. dinners will be held all in silence. with background music. dinners can be a bit of a noisy affair here (there’s usually about 30 of us). the silence will be quite a change - and should be interesting. i think i’m looking forward to it – but i’m not sure how others will react and adjust to the changes.

Sundays we take a break from fasting. (and we’d break the fast for any other celebrations, too). i expect none of us will be missing Sunday dinner too quickly :).