Earlier this week I posted on Feasts – and the converstaion took an interesting and unexpected direction to discuss fasting and the customary fasting periods before Pascha, and other feast days. I’ve been pondering this thread of the conversation ever since, been doing some reading too. It struck me this morning that many (if not all) religious traditions have fasting customs. Often (at least the examples I can think of off the cuff) these culminate in a feast.

Our historic custom of fast periods is a shared experience across the religious spectrum – a point of solidarity with other faithful people, and seekers of God. What a shame then that over the past century or so the value of fasting customs has been diminished; such that in the extreme (z.b. giving up chocolate for lent) it is little more than a quaint after-taste of a long lost medaeval tradition.