The Cellar - Pancake Day/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras

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To me, Ash Wednesday refers to February 16th 1983, when devestating bushfires swept through the Adelaide Hills (where I was living at the time) and parts of Victoria, killing 86 people.

For years I thought the day was named after the fires, not the other way around. It made perfect sense.

My school sent me home, where I would be "safe". Duh, no-one else was there. Rest of the family were in the city and couldn't have got back. Apparently I got the place fully prepared - sprinklers on roof, mops and buckets on standby, ladders in position etc etc - but thank god the firefighters held it at the Freeway, maybe 10kms to the north, because I was 10 years old and realistically, I would have had little chance.

I also remain kind of pissed off at the school. They just wanted us off their hands, not their responsiblity, I think.

glatt: funny. I love beer, I recently tried to switch to red wine because I drink so much less. it was actually working, but then Trader Joe's scuppered me by running out of the wine I like, and nothing else within the budget compares.

Quote:

Originally Posted by plthijinx (Post 716045)

Don't know about up there but down here it's very serious. i am religious myself but not of the catholic nature. on ash wednesday you definitely know who is catholic and who is not. just sayin.

I don't doubt the seriousness of it, but I've be here 10 years and familiar with ash weds all my life..... and I've ever seen these huge splodges before -always the discrete dash

ZenGum. I can't image how terrifying that must have been, and don't blame you for being angry at the school.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum (Post 716054)

How many hours were you at home by yourself before you were able to be in the same place as the rest of the family?

I really don't remember. I was always an independent type, and I probably didn't grasp the situation enough to be as scared as I should have been.

Quote:

Originally Posted by monster (Post 716062)

I've ever seen these huge splodges before -always the discrete dash

I don't know what the deal is, but I noticed it here too. A fair number of people walking around with huge ash crosses on their foreheads instead of the typical small smudge. Maybe a memo came down from the pope or something. That's one thing the Catholics have going for them. Serious leadership from the top. All on the same page.

The priests these days have WAY bigger thumbs than they used to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by monster (Post 716062)

I don't doubt the seriousness of it, but I've be here 10 years and familiar with ash weds all my life..... and I've ever seen these huge splodges before -always the discrete dash

Yeah we got big ol' black crosses here, too. Might have something to do with the changes in the liturgy coming up. Or might have to do with last year's crop of palms.

The tradition of the "King Cake" requires that the person who choke on the baby buy the cake next year.

it's like fruitcake, only not as reusable.

Mardi Gras isn't as much fun since the Philadelphia Police tightened security on South Street and they don't have the riots anymore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawnee123 (Post 716098)

The priests these days have WAY bigger thumbs than they used to.

Sincere Catholic people should NOT highlight the comment below.

Father, that's not my forehead!

It's okay, that's not my thumb...

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum (Post 716084)

I really don't remember. I was always an independent type, and I probably didn't grasp the situation enough to be as scared as I should have been.

Probably just as well. Was everyone else ok when you were all back home together? What did the school say when they sent you home? "Everyone is dismissed. Don't get caught in the fire on the way home." I only remember that particular day very vaguely as we lived in a non-hills suburb and those who came down from the hills were few and far between.

Sibling got lost on Mount Remarkable overnight when he was 8 and it was probably a similar kind of calmness that got him through that situation. If he'd panicked, he would have been totally stuffed.

I wish I was as calm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt (Post 715971)

I've been drinking a little more wine lately and I noticed that around the time of my increase in wine consumption, I've also had a bunch of itchy spots on my face. Not sure if the two are related, so I figure 40 days without wine is enough time to test the theory. I hope the itchy spots go away, but at the same time, I don't. You know what I mean? I don't drink enough that there's any sort of problem. Just a glass or maybe two a few nights a week. And I'm not giving up alcohol altogether for lent. When I get around to it, I might buy some beer. But beer is so filling and bloat inducing, I probably won't drink it as often as the yummy wine. So I'll be drinking less in general.

Anyway, I'd been thinking about it recently, and lent seems like a decent enough excuse.

Any rosacea in your family? Sounds like it could be the beginning. I hope not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by monster (Post 716035)

OK, so I'mm'a probably offend here, but I have to ask.... what is it with the ash this year? My dad taught at Catholic school, so I've been familiar forever with the concept of a dot of ash on the forehead from early morning mass. It's a dot, it wears off during the day. Wikipedia tells me it's a cross, but I've never seen that. But this year, I encountered several people who looked like they face-planted in a bonfire, even late in the evening. I was going to keep this to myself, but my walking partner brought it up this morning, mentioning that she had seen a couple of evening TV presenters who looked like they had elaborate forehead tattoos. Not a cross, but a huge swirling pattern. So it seems the humbling ash is becoming a f-ash-ion statement. or is this just me? and her?

Saw it too the other day and was all WTF?

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt (Post 716096)

I think Glatt is right. Catholics need to rally under their cross especially in light of all the bad press lately. They need to let their figurative freak flags fly and let the world know that a few hundred bad apples don't spoil the whole church. To paraphrase "a liberal is just a conservative who hasn't gotten mugged yet" A devout Catholic is just a lapsed Catholic who hasn't been molested by a priest yet.

saw this:

I woke up to an empty room

No more angels watching over me.
No more demons to be held at bay
by the invocation of
an Anglicized version
of a Hellenized version
of a Hebrew name

I woke up to an empty room:

Just a room. Four walls, ceiling, floor.
Just a room. Nothing more.

I woke up to an empty room
and embraced the solid air.

I woke up to an empty room and knew myself

awake.

Copyright © 1999 Secular Pagan
Used by permission

Only the ones who have been molested have the big smudges on their heads.;)