Tag Archives: Lent

No Moving Pictures This Lent

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

February 22, 1909

Lent FilmThe 40 weekdays from Ash Wednesday (February 13) until (Holy Saturday (March 30) are observed on the Christian calendar as the season of Lent, a time of fasting in preparation for Easter.

During Lent of 1909, Michael Francis Howley, the Catholic Archbishop of Newfoundland was most concerned about a relatively new form of entertainment that had become quite popular. His concern about this “new entertainment” stirred him to release a Pastoral  Letter to be read in all churches. The Pastoral Letter outlined the rules and regulations of Lent for that year.  The letter was very direct and forbade  Catholics

“to attend any worldly amusements; such as balls, dances, even in private houses, parties, theatrical or other entertainments, such as these new forms of moving pictures, or shows of any kind held in Public Halls by whatsoever name they may be called.”

The first moving picture in the province a showcase of moving images of famous persons was shown on February 19, 1901 at the British Hall (later known as the Paramount Theatre).

Recommended Archival Collection:  Archives of the R.C. Archdiocese of St. John’s: Archbishop Michael Francis Howley fonds 106/9/1

Recommended Reading: The Wreckage  a novel by Michael Crummey, Doubleday Canada. A novel that centres in part on Aloysious (Wish) Furey, ayoung man who drifts through remote Newfoundland villages, showing movies to  dazzled audiences. 

Shrove Tuesday—Pancake Day

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

February 12, 2013

Pancake ChefMardi Gras literally means “Fat Tuesday. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from “to shrive,” or hear confessions) or Pancake Tuesday. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins. This year Ash Wednesday is on February 13.

GIVE HIM “SHORT SHRIFT”

On Shrove Tuesday, Christians were encouraged to confess their sins so that they were forgiven before the season of Lent began.

To shrive someone, in old-fashioned English (he shrives, he shrove, he has shriven or he shrives), is to hear his acknowledgement of his sins, to assure him of God’s forgiveness, and to give him appropriate spiritual advice.

The term survives today in ordinary usage in the expression “short shrift”. To give someone short shrift is to pay very little attention to his excuses or problems. The longer expression is, “to give him short shrift and a long rope,” which formerly meant to hang a criminal with a minimum of delay.

What is in that pancake

Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren’t allowed in Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden during Lent.

Pancakes were a simple way to use these foods, and one that could entertain the family. Objects with symbolic value are cooked in the pancakes, and those who eat them, especially children, take part discovering what their future will be as part of the meal.

The person who receives each item interprets the gift according to the tradition:

  • a penny—to symbolize poverty
  • a nickel—to symbolize wealth
  • a string—to symbolize a fisherman (if a boy got the string, he would be a fisherman, if a girl did, she would marry one)
  • a holy medal—the house blessed with a priest or a nun.
  • a hair clip—hairdresser or barber
  • a button—to symbolize that you would never marry – a bachelor or an old maid
  • a pencil stub (imagine a lead pencil in your food!)
  • a nail — to symbolize that you  would know death in the near future (a bit morbid – mother argues that it represented a carpenter – handy man.)
  • a thimble—to symbolize that you would be a seamstress (a girl) or a tailor (a boy)
  • a wedding ring—to symbolize that you would marry soon

Note to the Cook – not a great idea to include the nail if the symbolic value is a short life or early death.  You might want to make the nail to represent the possibility of a carpenter in the household.   Perhaps drop the penny  – let all your children  find nickels  – for wealth.

Influenza Epidemic Raging

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

March 2, 1919

Influenza Poster on Public Building

In March 1919 Newfoundland  and Labrador was being ravaged with the dreaded Influenza Epidemic.

The local government and the churches were in the fore front of the fight against the spread of the dreaded disease. In   St. John’s, on March 2, 1919,  the Catholic Archbishop Edward Patrick Roche, issued a Pastoral Letter removing any obligation of fast and abstinence during the 40 days of Lent. The rationale was that if Roman Catholics were observing the ritual Lenten fast and rules of abstinence that they might be weakening their immune systems making them more susceptible to the pandemic.

On March 12, 1919 a notice was read in all churches that “Owing to the prevalence of influenza among the people, His Grace the Archbishop by the authority of the Holy See, grants during this present Lent, a general dispensation from the fast, except on Good Friday”

The move, thought small was unprecedented. One of the many steps that were taken to try and stop the spread of the disease.

St. John’s as an international port of call for ships from around the world was exposed to all the good and ill that came with its geographical location. In 1918 with the influenza epidemic raging throughout the world, it was only a matter of time before the province became vulnerable to the disease.

The pandemic reached Newfoundland on 30 September 1918 when a steamer carrying three infected crewmen docked at St. John’s harbour. Three more infected sailors arrived at Burin on October 4 and they travelled by rail to St. John’s for treatment. A doctor diagnosed the city’s first two local cases of influenza the following day and sent both people to a hospital. Within two weeks, newspapers reported that several hundred people were infected in St. John’s.

Soon after the outbreak, government officials closed many public buildings in St. John’s, including schools, churches, and meeting halls, and introduced quarantine regulations for incoming ships. Many outport communities also closed public buildings to curb the spread of influenza. By the time the epidemic was over, 62 deaths were reported in St. John’s and 170 more in outport Newfoundland.

The effects were most devastating in Labrador, where the disease killed close to one third of the Inuit population and forced some communities out of existence. Death rates were particularly high in the Inuit villages of Okak and Hebron.

Recommended Archival Collection:  At the R.C. Archdiocese of St. John’s,  Archbishop E.P. Roche, Pastoral Lenten Regulations, 107/32/4 Roman Catholic Cathedral Parish Publication fonds.

Recommended Reading: Budgell, Anne. “The Spanish Influenza of 1918 in Okak and Hebron,Labrador.” Unpublished paper for History 4671, Memorial University of Newfoundland. Fall 1994.