Four degrees at 8am with a fuchsia sunsrise. Evidence of an earlier frost. A very cold wind was rustling the palm leaves this morning, but the skies were blue and the sun in sheltered spots warm.
Today the Christian world is observing Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the start of the Christian period of fasting, Lent. They’ve done their dancing in the streets, their masked balls, their confetti-throwing and all that stuff.
But not in Carmine. And not in Cannobio, or some parts of Ticino, our nearest Swiss canton. And not in Milan either. The reason why lies in that city in the 4th century AD with a bishop called Ambrose. His name has been given to a group of variations in the Christian calendar and the liturgy, which differentiates them from the Roman calendar and liturgy. No-one seems to be quite sure whether Ambrose was personally involved in making these changes or whether they in fact migrated from churches further east (the most compelling theory) and coagulated, as it were, in Milan, a natural meeting point in Europe for both peoples and ideas during Ambrose’s time.
For the Ambrosian churches, carnival hasn’t yet finished. In fact it only begins this evening, with an opening party to get us all in the mood. Tomorrow and Friday are public holidays in these areas only, and the revelry will continue until Sunday. In theory, Lent for the Ambrosian churches, doesn’t begin until next Monday.
There is a nice story to go with the tradition. It’s said that one Lent, Bishop Ambrose was on a pilgrimage. He was delayed getting back to Milan for several days, and instead of setting aside their partying and dutifully heaping ashes on their heads on Ash Wednesday, the people of Milan, like naughty schoolchildren when the teacher is out of the room, just carried on, and on, and on. (I’m surprised the authorities didn’t send in the troops to break it up). Ambrose finally arrived the following weekend and promptly ordered Lent to start.
And now for the maths (never my strong point).
I always asked myself the question, how can Cannobio and Carmine, for example, begin Lent early and still celebrate Easter at the same time. (I always believed Carmine existed in a bit of a time warp, but that’s ridiculous.)
Well, here’s the sleight of hand (I think)…apparently, the Roman Church doesn’t count Sundays as fast days, and the Ambrosian Church does. So in the end, we all forswear chocolate for the same number of days and we all end up with far too much of the stuff on the same sunny daffodil Sunday, surrounded by enormous white rabbits and fluffy yellow chicks.
I understand that the Ambrosian church also starts Advent two weeks early. And it’ll take me until then to work out how that little anomaly is jigsawed into the Roman calendar…
In the meantime, click there for a pdf list of events in Cannobio this Carnevale Ambrosiano.
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Wednesday 6 February 2008
Carnevale Ambrosiano
Four degrees at 8am with a fuchsia sunsrise. Evidence of an earlier frost. A very cold wind was rustling the palm leaves this morning, but the skies were blue and the sun in sheltered spots warm.
Today the Christian world is observing Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the start of the Christian period of fasting, Lent. They’ve done their dancing in the streets, their masked balls, their confetti-throwing and all that stuff.
But not in Carmine. And not in Cannobio, or some parts of Ticino, our nearest Swiss canton. And not in Milan either. The reason why lies in that city in the 4th century AD with a bishop called Ambrose. His name has been given to a group of variations in the Christian calendar and the liturgy, which differentiates them from the Roman calendar and liturgy. No-one seems to be quite sure whether Ambrose was personally involved in making these changes or whether they in fact migrated from churches further east (the most compelling theory) and coagulated, as it were, in Milan, a natural meeting point in Europe for both peoples and ideas during Ambrose’s time.
For the Ambrosian churches, carnival hasn’t yet finished. In fact it only begins this evening, with an opening party to get us all in the mood. Tomorrow and Friday are public holidays in these areas only, and the revelry will continue until Sunday. In theory, Lent for the Ambrosian churches, doesn’t begin until next Monday.
There is a nice story to go with the tradition. It’s said that one Lent, Bishop Ambrose was on a pilgrimage. He was delayed getting back to Milan for several days, and instead of setting aside their partying and dutifully heaping ashes on their heads on Ash Wednesday, the people of Milan, like naughty schoolchildren when the teacher is out of the room, just carried on, and on, and on. (I’m surprised the authorities didn’t send in the troops to break it up). Ambrose finally arrived the following weekend and promptly ordered Lent to start.
And now for the maths (never my strong point).
I always asked myself the question, how can Cannobio and Carmine, for example, begin Lent early and still celebrate Easter at the same time. (I always believed Carmine existed in a bit of a time warp, but that’s ridiculous.)
Well, here’s the sleight of hand (I think)…apparently, the Roman Church doesn’t count Sundays as fast days, and the Ambrosian Church does. So in the end, we all forswear chocolate for the same number of days and we all end up with far too much of the stuff on the same sunny daffodil Sunday, surrounded by enormous white rabbits and fluffy yellow chicks.
I understand that the Ambrosian church also starts Advent two weeks early. And it’ll take me until then to work out how that little anomaly is jigsawed into the Roman calendar…
In the meantime, click there for a pdf list of events in Cannobio this Carnevale Ambrosiano.
Today the Christian world is observing Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the start of the Christian period of fasting, Lent. They’ve done their dancing in the streets, their masked balls, their confetti-throwing and all that stuff.
But not in Carmine. And not in Cannobio, or some parts of Ticino, our nearest Swiss canton. And not in Milan either. The reason why lies in that city in the 4th century AD with a bishop called Ambrose. His name has been given to a group of variations in the Christian calendar and the liturgy, which differentiates them from the Roman calendar and liturgy. No-one seems to be quite sure whether Ambrose was personally involved in making these changes or whether they in fact migrated from churches further east (the most compelling theory) and coagulated, as it were, in Milan, a natural meeting point in Europe for both peoples and ideas during Ambrose’s time.
For the Ambrosian churches, carnival hasn’t yet finished. In fact it only begins this evening, with an opening party to get us all in the mood. Tomorrow and Friday are public holidays in these areas only, and the revelry will continue until Sunday. In theory, Lent for the Ambrosian churches, doesn’t begin until next Monday.
There is a nice story to go with the tradition. It’s said that one Lent, Bishop Ambrose was on a pilgrimage. He was delayed getting back to Milan for several days, and instead of setting aside their partying and dutifully heaping ashes on their heads on Ash Wednesday, the people of Milan, like naughty schoolchildren when the teacher is out of the room, just carried on, and on, and on. (I’m surprised the authorities didn’t send in the troops to break it up). Ambrose finally arrived the following weekend and promptly ordered Lent to start.
And now for the maths (never my strong point).
I always asked myself the question, how can Cannobio and Carmine, for example, begin Lent early and still celebrate Easter at the same time. (I always believed Carmine existed in a bit of a time warp, but that’s ridiculous.)
Well, here’s the sleight of hand (I think)…apparently, the Roman Church doesn’t count Sundays as fast days, and the Ambrosian Church does. So in the end, we all forswear chocolate for the same number of days and we all end up with far too much of the stuff on the same sunny daffodil Sunday, surrounded by enormous white rabbits and fluffy yellow chicks.
I understand that the Ambrosian church also starts Advent two weeks early. And it’ll take me until then to work out how that little anomaly is jigsawed into the Roman calendar…
In the meantime, click there for a pdf list of events in Cannobio this Carnevale Ambrosiano.
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