DAY 29: Food for Lent/ Easter : )

     Easter is drawing closer, guys. Let's see I have 11 more posts to meet my challenge (eek!) and there are exactly 13 days left until Easter and Jesus' Resurrection. (Does anyone else find that Easter is such a happy word? Just typing the word, puts me in a more joyful mood...) So, I thought I'd take a break from all of the serious Catholic stuff and talk about food.

    There are various foods that have their origins in the Easter and Lenten seasons. One such food is the pretzel. The pretzel is thought to have originated in the early Roman Catholic Empire about 500 CE. "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.'"(http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=543)
      Actually, that traditional fast of no meat, butter, eggs, etc. during Lent is held by the Orthodox Christians as well. In Greece, the number of meals on each day is limited and olive oil and wine are restricted. How many people still uphold those traditions is uncertain, but isn't interesting to see how other people live and eat?(http://greekfood.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/a/greatlent.htm) 

     Another Easter food was a sweet bread that actually originated in paganism as offerings to ancient deities. (http://breadbaking.about.com/od/dessertandholidaybreads/r/hotcrossbuns.htm) However, it supposedly became a Christian food when Britain's Queen Elizabeth I legalized the buns during Christmas, Easter or funerals. It was either that or the Anglican monk who placed crosses on the pagan buns to honor Good Friday. (http://www.rheinlanderbakery.com/Category.cfm?CategoryID=42 and http://mycountrycookin.com/easter-food-origin-facts/)

     Easter eggs find their tradition partially in the fact that nobody was allowed to eat them during the Lenten Season and also as a symbol of rebirth. As http://www.holidays.net/easter/eggs.htm states, crimson eggs honor the blood of Christ in Greece, in parts of Germany and Austria green eggs are used on Maundy (Holy) Thursday and in Austria, artists design patterns by fastening ferns and tiny plants around the eggs. Wow.

     Okay, well, that's all for today! Hope you enjoyed it!