Re: Lent

Carnaval is underway in Rio de Janeiro. Unable to make it this year, we have elected to stay home, don our costumes, drink pina coladas, rent "Black Orpheus", and play "The Girl from Ipanema" at high volume.

The Brazilian celebration is, of course, the prelude to Lent, forty days of fasting, preferably in sackcloth and ashes. The word "Lent" derives from an Olde English word meaning, simply, "spring." The custom of fasting at this season was instituted in the fourth century.

But before Lent begins (this Wednesday, February 22) there is Shrove Tuesday. This was once the big day for cockfights in England, but that has given way to the more benign tradition of making and eating pancakes. In some parts of England, there still are pancake races and pancake scrimmages. 

We leave you with this verse, appropriate for the season:

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

 If the licker don't get you,

 The wimmen must."