Why give something up for Lent?

 Here in the UK many still practise the Christian tradition of Lent: the discipline of giving something up to consider living simply, frequently a food item and for health benefit.

The idea is to mimic the 40 day fast undertaken by Jesus in the wilderness, when he was tested by the devil and tempted to prove he was ready to start his mission.

In England we start by making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday - to use up the sweet stuff in the larder so we are not tempted to eat it again for the duration of lent and to fuel the fast.

Today the focus may be more about the challenge of reining in appetite or curbing bad habits like smoking or eating treats to excess and less about Christs' 40 days and nights in the desert being stalked by satan.

Interestingly most ancient traditions held in them the concept of feasts: I.E. celebrating a particular event or time of year with a party and food. This meant eating special luxuries or taking pleasure in rarer foods or harvest times -it also meant eating simply the rest of the time.

With the advent of commercial food production and modern advertising, the concept of feasting has been nullified, pushing us to feast every day - the reason - because we can afford to!

In reality no individual or society can sustain feasting every day as this puts pressure on food sources, producers, the environment and not to mention your belly.

So what will you give up this lent?

 It starts from today.

 Maybe you need to stop doing something like smoking or eating too much pudding or even take up something healthy like swimming for the next 40 days?

Here is my pancake feast - the last for the next 40 days - oh yes and no more beers either.



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