I feel like I should rename this site the prodigal blogger. lol. I can't believe its been since November! Mi despiaci.
Anyways, look at this. ->
It's called frappe and its one of a number of Italian fried, sugar-covered deliciousnesses that you can only get during carnival (the period of time between the Presentation and Lent). It got me thinking about how things are so seasonal in Italy. These frappe are literally only available for one or two weeks a year and if you asked for them any other time they'd look at you like you'd just sprouted a third head. I was trying to think if we had an equivilant sense of time and season in the States. The closest thing I could come up with was Peeps at Easter. lol. With our Walmarts and our supermarkets I feel like this is lost on us sometimes. I can have about any type of produce at any time of year where as Italian fruits and vegetables have a much more obvious tie to the season (as do their gelato flavors, good luck finding blood orange before February.) This is wonderfully convenient for us back home but I also feel like it takes away some of the fun and anticipation that should naturally be there. It's an awesome thing when you peel your first orange of the year to find little flecks of red (like these guys.) Culinary and cultural life is not one monotone procession but is full of ebbs and flows, at times wild and Bacchic, at others subdued and muted.
Like all good things, this is incorporated into the life of the Church and I think it might also be a partial explanation of liturgical seasons. From the contemplation of the incarnation at Christmas, to the meditation on the suffering of Christ in Lent, and His Resurrection at Easter or even the long period of ordinary time littered with the feast-days of important men and women, the life of the Church has this same ebb and flow. Maybe if I had a deeper knowledge of human nature I could make some insightful comment about how this variety is necessary to keep our attention or to help us to grow. When we were kids I can remember wishing that every morning was Christmas, but as you grow older you realize that the magic that you enjoyed as a little kid exist precisely because it doesn't happen everyday, in the same way a brilliant sunset captivates us because of its rarity and fleetingness. Maybe filling the calendar of the Church with different seasons and feast, different moods, and colors sets a tone for our very human nature, one the aids in engaging our imagination and holding our attention. If you have the chance this Lent, take some time to live in the season.
There is an appointed time for everything, and time for every affair under the heavens...
a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance...
a time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep and a time to cast away...
a time to be silent and a time to speak...
a time of war and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
See you in the Eucharist!
It's called frappe and its one of a number of Italian fried, sugar-covered deliciousnesses that you can only get during carnival (the period of time between the Presentation and Lent). It got me thinking about how things are so seasonal in Italy. These frappe are literally only available for one or two weeks a year and if you asked for them any other time they'd look at you like you'd just sprouted a third head. I was trying to think if we had an equivilant sense of time and season in the States. The closest thing I could come up with was Peeps at Easter. lol. With our Walmarts and our supermarkets I feel like this is lost on us sometimes. I can have about any type of produce at any time of year where as Italian fruits and vegetables have a much more obvious tie to the season (as do their gelato flavors, good luck finding blood orange before February.) This is wonderfully convenient for us back home but I also feel like it takes away some of the fun and anticipation that should naturally be there. It's an awesome thing when you peel your first orange of the year to find little flecks of red (like these guys.) Culinary and cultural life is not one monotone procession but is full of ebbs and flows, at times wild and Bacchic, at others subdued and muted.Like all good things, this is incorporated into the life of the Church and I think it might also be a partial explanation of liturgical seasons. From the contemplation of the incarnation at Christmas, to the meditation on the suffering of Christ in Lent, and His Resurrection at Easter or even the long period of ordinary time littered with the feast-days of important men and women, the life of the Church has this same ebb and flow. Maybe if I had a deeper knowledge of human nature I could make some insightful comment about how this variety is necessary to keep our attention or to help us to grow. When we were kids I can remember wishing that every morning was Christmas, but as you grow older you realize that the magic that you enjoyed as a little kid exist precisely because it doesn't happen everyday, in the same way a brilliant sunset captivates us because of its rarity and fleetingness. Maybe filling the calendar of the Church with different seasons and feast, different moods, and colors sets a tone for our very human nature, one the aids in engaging our imagination and holding our attention. If you have the chance this Lent, take some time to live in the season.
There is an appointed time for everything, and time for every affair under the heavens...
a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance...
a time to seek and a time to lose;
a time to keep and a time to cast away...
a time to be silent and a time to speak...
a time of war and a time of peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
See you in the Eucharist!
When I read this line:
ReplyDelete"Culinary and cultural life is not one monotone procession but is full of ebbs and flows, at times wild and Bacchic, at others subdued and muted."
I had to go back and see what you were quoting, because it was so well said, it just had to quoted from some sage source. Nope, it appears to be some Tony Seiler original prose. Well said.
Also: Egg nog.
-joel