Lent ~ Cuaremsa

Heidi is hosting Wednesday Gratitude at Heart and Home. It is a wonderful way to gather in friendship, support, and a moment of gratitude. This week I have so much gratitude for the opportunity to spiritually grow in faith and prayer during the Lent Season.

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I want to share with you about my childhood experience during the Christian period of Lent. The Spanish word for Lent is Cuaremsa which means “40”, the number of days that Jesus fasted in the wilderness.

Lent Disciplines
When I was a kid, Lent always seemed so busy with so many things to do. I learned at a young age about the Lent disciplines such as fasting, almsgiving, prayers, examinations of conscious, and penance. For a young kid, fasting was the most dreaded part. I hated giving up candy. I loved candy so much that I would pretend to be a princess in candy land. Oh, and the extra prayers; gees I was Catholic, how many more prayers do I need to learn? To make this more interesting, my parents made me learn my prayers in English & Spanish because they did not me to lose my heritage language. We would start Lent by attending Ash Wednesday mass in the morning, where we received ashes on our foreheads to symbolize repentance and remind us of our mortality. It was easy to spot the Catholics that day. Then the scariest part for me was “scrutiny and penance”. I always wondered if the priest would remember me and my sins. My siblings and I would compare the number of prayers we were assigned after confession. Almsgiving meant that we had to do more chores around the house. I was always fastest at completing my chores because I would toss my stuff under my bed. Then we would celebrate Palm Sunday by receiving palms in memory of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Lent ~ Traditional Hispanic Foods
I wish I could say that I enjoyed the Hispanic traditional food for Lent, but I didn’t. It is very common for people to eat seafood on Fridays, since fasting from meats was required. Well, I am allergic to shell-fish, so that was not fun at all. Other traditional foods were fritters or “empanada” stuffed with vegetable or seafood. There was also a dessert that everyone raved about called “capirotada” which is a bread pudding. Sorry, but I was not about to eat what I called soggy bread; a mixture of bread, stale tortillas, prunes, pecans, bananas, apricots, dried pineapple, cheese, brown sugar syrup, cinnamon, and butter. People would also eat fried cactus paddles with egg, and fried fish patties coated with eggs; yuck. By the end of the 40 days, I was a skinny kid, desperate for candy, and fluent in more languages than I when I started.

The Best Part of Lent
When I was young, my favorite part of Lent was the end. By the end of the 40 day, my mother would have made us a beautiful new Easter dress and bought us an Easter basket. In celebration of our Hispanic culture, we would have saved, painted, and stuff, confetti eggs or “cascarones”. Easter Sunday was a blast because I would finally get to eat the candy in my basket and we would have a huge BBQ and egg hunts.

Lent ~ Today

I laugh and I cry when I remember those wonderful times. I miss my father who is now in heaven. I miss my mom now that I have moved to a new city. Lent starts today and I have already started to think of ways to make it interesting for my kids. As an adult, I know the meaning of Lent and Easter. I pray for God to expand my knowledge and strengthen my faith. I feel bad for Jesus having suffered 40 days and them dying on the cross, but I am grateful for his sacrifice and resurrection.

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My sweet friend Floss is hosting A Pause in Lent at Troc, Broc and Recup. Go on over sometime and share in her wisdom.

God Bless You ~ Yoli :)