Today I went to Tesco—it was on my way, and has usually parking spaces—to buy some fish for lunch. Over the display cabinet was a big sign: "Fish: not only for Friday's". Yes, I reproduced that accurately, apostrophe included.
But it does say two interesting things;
First, that fish once more has come to be associated with Friday.
Second, that supermarkets have noticed that more people than in recent years are buying fish for eating on a Friday (and want to extend that).
I think that, still, England and Wales are the only English (and Welsh!)-speaking conference which has restored Friday abstinence. But notice how it has already impacted one of the largest supermarket stores in the country.
Again, I congratulate my former bishop, Kieran Conry, for having given us back Friday abstinence. Little things sometimes have great impact.
6 comments:
I have taken the liberty of flaging this up at OnePeterFive as it follows directly on some comments I was making there.
It is a not uncommon practice of restaurants to have special nights for particular food. Steak Nights, Curry Nights, etc. A pub/restaurant near me, belonging to a chain, for some time a few years ago had Fish Nights on Fridays. That pub/restaurant is located near Glasgow. I might add that the non-denominational school where I taught for many years always had fish available on Fridays. However, I was informed by a Lutheran in the 1960s that the reason that they had fish on Thursdays, at the Lutheran institution where he worked, was to show that they weren't Catholics.
"Stangeways hotel" song, as learnt , oral tradition, student cross (pilgrimages to Walsingham in Holy Week),UK, late sixties:
THERE'S FISH EVERY FRIDAY ,
THERE'S FISH 3FOOT WIDE
IT COVERS UP THE PLATE
AND HANGS OVER THE SIDE
YOU CAN TELL THAT IT'S FRIDAY,
JUST BY THE SMELL
FOR THE FISH HAVE ALL DONE TIME
AT THE STRANGEWAYS HOTEL
It being true I believe that way back when we were over 15% population and 25% in city centres and large families were common, we were also nearly 50% of the prison population, hence, possibly urban legend, Friday fish on offer inside, as most certainly in other non catholic institutions and many schools, many Anglicans and Methodists indeed were Fish on Friday people.
(Strangeways prison near Manchester I hope is still extant insofar as being the only neomudejar public building in Great Britain.)
The Book of Common Prayer gives a table of days of Fast or Abstinence:
16 Vigils, 40 Days of Lent, 12 Ember Days, 3 Rogation Days (or it 6?), and every Friday except Christmas Day. There is some double counting, but that must be over 100 days each year. Catholics had most of these as well, but we had precise rules and were threatened with hell fire for eternity, while they were not.
Sincere Christmas Greetings to you Father. I hope we can look forward to more postings from you in the new year?
We in Ireland had the same advert for fish in all Tesco stores! The good influence on culture the Catholic church is!
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