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Feasts, fasts and a Pancake Day warning

Shrove Tuesday falls the day before LentIn the Christian calendar the period of penitence runs from Ash Wednesday (when penitents mark their foreheads with ashes as a sign of repentance) to Easter. Deeply significant in Christianity, it is followed by Easter Sunday. Easter and its symbolism coincide with the celebration of spring., the Christian tradition marking the 40 days Jesus spent fastingGoing without food or drink, either for religious or health purposes. You should only fast if it is safe medically. in the desert before he began to preachSpread the word about a religion to non-believers. ; it is the last chance to indulgeAllow yourself to enjoy something, even when you may have too much of it. before Easter. For Lent some people cut down on food or luxuries. The pancakes we eat are a good way to use up dairy and eggs, which are traditionallyThe way things have regularly been done in the past. forbidden during Lent. Some say Shrove Tuesday has lost its original meaning. Western societies are less religious than in the past. If people are not going to fast in Lent, they do not earn the party the day before. At Christmas, scepticsThose who doubt commonly accepted opinions - named after the "skeptic" philosophers of Ancient Greece. say excessive spending on presents and eating too much is against the holiday's spirit; and Halloween, a festival of respect for the dead, has become a celebration of creepy things. These festivals are outdatedOld-fashioned. Not in keeping with the modern world. . They mattered when people believed in their religious meaning and when eating certain food, or giving presents, was a treat. Now, they are just excuses to spoil ourselves. People get anxious at Christmas, eat too much on Shrove Tuesday and hardly bother with Lent. We should either mark these events properly or reject them. There is nothing wrong with mass celebrations. It is human nature to enjoy them, and now they are more important than ever. Our lives are busier and lonelier, so we need reasons to get together with the people we love. And old festivals can gain new meanings — for example, Australians have turned Mardi GrasFrench for "Fat Tuesday", for eating up richer, fatty foods. In English known as Shrove Tuesday, preceding Ash Wednesday (see below). into a celebration of LGBTStands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. The initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. culture.KeywordsLent - In the Christian calendar the period of penitence runs from Ash Wednesday (when penitents mark their foreheads with ashes as a sign of repentance) to Easter. Deeply significant in Christianity, it is followed by Easter Sunday. Easter and its symbolism coincide with the celebration of spring.

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