Why is it that Red meat shouldnt be eaten on Good Friday???
We just had a work morning tea for a girls birthday & the topic came up & most people said they dont eat red meat on Friday, now I am Hindu, but love seafood so have asked DH to bring some home & asked if he can cook it all tomorrow.
Not for religious purposes but beacuse I get to eat seafood LOL...
Then someone asked the reason why & actually noone knew why?
I asked Mum once and she growled at me... she didn't really give me a straight answer either.
I am not christian, nor is DP so it really doesn't matter to us.
Tanya
ETA... Mum said that Catholics where once never allowed to eat red meat on Fridays...?? She said when she was younger If they saw a catholic kid eating a meat pie or something on a friday they would tease them... funny really...
'Good Friday' is a holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus, celebrated on the Friday before Easter. Orthodox Christians refrain from eating on this day so long as their health allows and most Catholics refrain from eating meat
Its not just food. Its abstinence from all pleasure for orthadox Christians, particularly Roman Catholics. Its to remind them of the suffering of Jesus.
Ok the catholic church has prescribed days of fasting as penance, it is still in the Catechism (rules and dogma for being a catholic) that we should fast in penance on all fridays (being rememberance of the day Jesus gave his life for us) unless it falls on christmas day or another day of holy obligation (Assention, All Saints, etc etc etc). We should also fast on Ash Wednesday and all days of lent until noon Easter Saturday. There are aslo fasting requirements during Advent (4 weeks leading up to Christmas) and Christmas eve should be a fast too. Infact the vigil (night before) most days of holy obligation should be fasts.
We are also supposed to fast from midnight until after eucharist (communion) before every mass we attend, water and medication are exempt, although the fasting is only for catholics 14 and over. I don't have anything before mass (including water) but my DD has breaky and a drink. The reason behind this is that Catholics actually believe the bread IS Jesus' body and the wine IS his blood so nothing should pass your lips before the lord. (bit canabilistic when you think about it.)
There was a laxing of the strictness for fasting in Vatican II (modernised catholic rules) and by Popes Pius XII and Paul XXIII and now most catholics only observe the Ash Wednesday Fast, fridays in lent and good friday.
Why only fish... there are many reasons for this but the eating of fish on a fast day can be traced back to the constantine empire (before the split with greek authodox)... as the fasting was an act of penance and to allow us to reflect on our faith and as part of our penance we should fast/sacrafice our comfort. Giving up red meat is just one of those reasonings that has been lost to time, the common belief is that in the early/middle ages fish was a peasant/poor persons food and most people ate land food (beef/foul, especially those who could afford it.) so giving up red meat/land meat was seen as a sacrafice because it was a luxuary.
ETA ; Paul XXIII's name cos I just put his number.
Last edited by kerry; April 5th, 2007 at 02:13 PM.
i was always told by my nanna if i ate red meat on good friday then i would choke lol. we just head of down to the local fish and chip shop and grab dinner from there (any excuse not to cook lol)
so is it only red meat? Chicken is ok then?
I always thought that the only meat we could eat on Good Friday was Fish. DH reckons we can eat Chicken. I said no.
I went to catholic boarding school for 6 years - i must of missed those lessons, or got it mixed up with something else - i thought it had something to do with Jesus sharing the fish, bread and wine on the hill.
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May I ask without causing an uproar???
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