Carne vale

This weekend and until Tuesday whole swathes of Europe are succombing to the pre-Lenten merrymaking that is Carnival, Carnaval, Karneval, Fasching, Fastnacht, Mardi Gras - yes, even the Shrove Tuesday pancake racing (!) in Britain. ♫ Am Aschermittwoch ist alles vorbei ♫.

We Catholics seem to be so much better at this kind of thing than our Protestant brethren, who tend on the whole to be a good deal more sober ("sober" being the operative word). For not only do we bid farewell to meat and fat before the forty days of Lent, but it would almost seem that beer and other alcoholic beverages are going out of fashion for much longer than 40 days, so much of these is consumed at this time.

In so mancher mit maskierten Gläubigen gefüllten Kirche ertönte heute eine heilige Büttenpredigt, ob mit kölschem Humor oder allemannischer Deftigkeit. Wir Christen und die "profane" Gesellschaft wurden regelrecht aufs Korn genommen - und viele Priester glänzten als Dichter.

Et puis je me souviens avec beaucoup de plaisir de ces défilés de personnages déguisés au centre des villages provençaux (Maillane, Graveson) et puis naturellement du Mardi Gras à Nice (mother of New Orleans' celebration of the same name).

Let me leave you with the thoughts attributed (probably falsely) to St. Thomas More on the subject of humour (which we prayed at today's mass):

Give me a sense of humour, Lord,

Give me the power to see a joke,

To get some happiness from life

And pass it on to other folk