Catholic holidays

While I was in Florida, the stores were full of decorations for two Catholic holidays that have been morphed in the United States into fun commercialized excuses to buy things, Mardi Gras and Valentine's Day. Valentine´s Day is especially commercialized and the pressure on men in the United States to do something romantic for their ladies on February 14 is still in full swing despite the recession (though the suggestions this year were for more modest gifts, i.e.; a diamond pendant instead of a full tennis bracelet). Mardi Gras is mostly about the beads, the parades, and the party. In this it is like Halloween, which is also a Catholic-holiday-gone-array, or St. Patrick's Day; the main reason they are popular is it is a good excuse for a party. 

Mardi Gras is the only one of these Catholic holidays that is part of the cultural fabric of Iceland; here it is called Spengidagur, and people are supposed to eat a lot, especially a lot of salted lamb meat and beans, before fasting for Lent. 

Since I myself am not Catholic, I find all of these holidays a bit vacuous, and yet I note their arrival on the calendar. They are part of my sense of the annual cycle, and I wonder how it will be living here, all of them going unnoticed. 

Comments

Thordis said…
You get used to it :) We would celebrate "bolludagur" "1 mai" all the time even though for americans it was business as usual those days. And then you get used to "celebrating" the days celebrated in the culture you live in even though they are not a part of your own.

But you do get used to it :) :) Inform you husband about how he can still send you flowers even though he is in another country for valentines day (blomaval.is) :)
February 12, 2009 at 8:49 PM
Lissy said…
Oh, I don't think that will be happening this year.
February 12, 2009 at 9:08 PM
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