Abstaining meat on Good Friday

Kablamo! · 18-04-2014 03:52PM

I normally would abstain alright but there's a cooked chicken in the fridge that won't keep until tomorrow. Waste is a bigger sin I think.

GLaDOS · 18-04-2014 03:54PM

Had a ham and cheese toastie for lunch, as I do most days.

c_man · 18-04-2014 03:56PM

I'm probably gonna stop by Burger King after work as is my want some Fridays. I'm on the verge of declaring it "too nice a day to cook".

sdanseo · 18-04-2014 03:56PM

Please, only Good Friday? My granny abstains from meat every Friday.

Personally I don't think the Catholic Church should tell me what to feckin' eat so I'm munching on a Turkey sambo right now. Secularism is great.

elefant · 18-04-2014 03:56PM

doolox · 18-04-2014 04:00PM

If you want to have a decent filling satisfying meal you can try swordfish or Tuna steaks, Taste practically like turkey or chicken but are not "meat".

Come to think of it it is a wonder that the butchers are not protesting about the discriminatory practice of banning one class of food and allowing another with little or no logic behind it.

Such strange things are traditions.........

I know from past experience that most publicans practically welcome Good Friday and Christmas as days off in order to catch up on maintenance and overhauling of pub infrastructure but some hardline customers hate and resent it.

I recall a roadside pub was not allowed to serve even food or teas on Good Friday to the passing Bank Holiday trade. The publican tried to circumvent the law by setting up a marquee next door to the pub in the carpark, purely for selling food and tea/coffee but fell foul of the planning and health and safety laws. You can't win.

Banjoxed · 18-04-2014 04:03PM

I don't drink alcohol during Holy Week and don't eat meat on Good Friday for religious reasons. However I find the whole idea of a imposed "dry" Good Friday to be patronising and would support the scrapping of this archaic bit of social engineering. In any case, having the border five miles away makes a mockery of the ban anyway.

xxmeabhxx · 18-04-2014 04:05PM

I don't deliberately eat meat or drink as a form of rebellion on Good Friday or Ash Wednesday but I understand why some people do. It's one thing for people to decide for themselves to abstain if that's their belief but it's quite another to have those beliefs protected and enshrined by the government in a country that is supposedly secular and has a growing number of people identifying as something other then Christian. The fact that it's illegal to sell alcohol on these days adds massively to the desire to rebel, because people feel (and rightly so) that's it's unfair that government enforces religious rules onto the whole population.

4zn76tysfajdxp · 18-04-2014 04:05PM

I eat chicken because I don't consider white meat to be true meat.

Tiddlypeeps · 18-04-2014 04:10PM

My name is URL wrote: »

+1.. It's kinda pathetic how so many people go out of their way just to stick it to the invisible man in the sky which they say they don't believe or doesn't play any part in their lives :pac:

If you eat a big load of fcuking meat just because your not 'supposed' to, then the whole religion thing is playing a bigger part in your life than you may care to admit.

I don't think it's hard to see why there might be an element of protest in the day.

A lot of people on here would have been reared in a house where there was strictly no meat on good friday and other such traditions. I don't think it should be too difficult to understand why these people would get an element of satisfaction from being able to ignore the custom now that they are grown.

I wasn't raised in a religious household, so it didn't even register in my head that "I shouldn't really be eating meat today". I forgot it was a thing until I came into this thread. But if I was raised to follow this tradition then I can imagine I would feel a similar sense of satisfaction breaking away from it.

Kinda mean to call that pathetic. It's not like that religion is just minding it's own business either, it still very much effects people who have no interest in interacting with it. Publicans being forced to close their doors today being a very simple example of that, the school system is another.

J_E · 18-04-2014 04:12PM

Tiddlypeeps wrote: »

I don't think it's hard to see why there might be an element of protest in the day.

A lot of people on here would have been reared in a house where there was strictly no meat on good friday and other such traditions. I don't think it should be too difficult to understand why these people would get an element of satisfaction from being able to ignore the custom now that they are grown.

Sure, there's that, but isn't it a bit contrived to excitedly proclaim to every social media outlet that you're doing so?

I have issues with the alcohol rule and will bring it up but when it comes to meat...what's the point, you can buy it, it's just another day of the year, we've heard the jokes every year before. It's a bit stale now.

Even in those families they probably ate fish anyway. Not sure what's special about fish that suddenly makes it not-meat. It's as good as.

COYW wrote: »

As a matter of interest, is it a sin if you eat meat today, as a Catholic. If a practicing Catholic ate meat today, would he or she have to go to confession for that? If find it weird that you can't eat meat but you can eat fish. Why is it ok to eat meat on Christmas day for example, the birth of Jesus but not today?

It's even stranger because Jesus didn't actually die today, going by Hebrew calendars it was the 14th. Even then there are about 3-4 conflicting dates within 2-3 weeks of each other.

COYW · 18-04-2014 04:12PM

As a matter of interest, is it a sin if you eat meat today, as a Catholic. If a practicing Catholic ate meat today, would he or she have to go to confession for that? If find it weird that you can't eat meat but you can eat fish. Why is it ok to eat meat on Christmas day for example, the birth of Jesus but not today?

Also, I was under the impression that it was every Friday during Lent.

iDave · 18-04-2014 04:16PM

Cant wait for Good Friday to be over so we can get over the annual freaking out over booze and meat.

Tiddlypeeps · 18-04-2014 04:19PM

Cydoniac wrote: »

Sure, there's that, but isn't it a bit contrived to excitedly proclaim to every social media outlet that you're doing so?

I have issues with the alcohol rule and will bring it up but when it comes to meat...what's the point, you can buy it, it's just another day of the year, we've heard the jokes every year before. It's a bit stale now.

Even in those families they probably ate fish anyway. Not sure what's special about fish that suddenly makes it not-meat. It's as good as.

It's possibly a little immature, but I would imagine a lot of the people that do this are quite young and not long away from living with mammy who would have imposed this rule.

There is probably also an element of curiosity from the likes of the OP who may genuinely be curious how many people still follow this tradition. Social media is a good way of finding out.

Diabhal Beag · 18-04-2014 04:19PM

I gave the single finger salute to all the atheist haterz and had myself a plain cheese pizza.

candy-gal1 · 18-04-2014 05:08PM

Yes, but not on purpose and also seems a very fair coincidence since had a few glasses of red wine, and may have more late

Balancing!!

Even though Im pagan so does it really matter for me anyway :P:pac::)

Richard Hillman · 18-04-2014 05:15PM

I have just had a microwaved chicken burger. I highly doubt there was much chicken in what I ate.

Sheeps · 18-04-2014 05:17PM

Anyone know where i can get the best bbq ribs in Dublin?

Graces7 · 18-04-2014 05:27PM

sigh.... so much here is boringly predictable.

no meat here as i can very rarely if ever afford it. and for serious health reasons and age am not allowed to fast anyways.

abstinence from fleshmeat is a deeply symbolic honouring of Jesus especially today. which means a great amount to many. myself included

if you have no belief than it is meaningless.

someone used the term immature which i endorse. so childish.

ps fish is costlier than meat so never have that either.

Ghost Buster · 18-04-2014 05:28PM

jamo2oo9 wrote: »

How many of you do? I don't. Every year, my mother says no meat on Good Friday and every year, I go to the takeaway shop and get me 12" pepperoni pizza, quarter pounder with cheese and two battered sausages.

You complete and utter legend you!!!!!!!!!

c_man · 18-04-2014 06:31PM

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I have just had a microwaved chicken burger.

:eek: Why??

efb · 18-04-2014 06:32PM

I has fish earlier but chicken stir fry now

Savage Tyrant · 18-04-2014 06:40PM

Like someone else said, i dont try to avoid it. I'm not religous in the least so it wouldn't bother me.
Her indoors goes for the religous stuff though so she'll cook fish and stay away from meat and by default that usually means i would too. Simply because I'm too lazy to cook anything myself...... Today was a exception though. Pulled Pork Sandwich from the Deli. Nice!

Macy0161 · 18-04-2014 07:02PM

COYW wrote: »

As a matter of interest, is it a sin if you eat meat today, as a Catholic. If a practicing Catholic ate meat today, would he or she have to go to confession for that? If find it weird that you can't eat meat but you can eat fish. Why is it ok to eat meat on Christmas day for example, the birth of Jesus but not today?

Also, I was under the impression that it was every Friday during Lent.

It used to be every Friday. However, as to why its allowed on Christmas day etc, it's because eating fish on a Friday is another pagan tradition hijacked by Christianity. The origins have nothing to do with Jesus.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 18-04-2014 07:15PM

Graces7 wrote: »

sigh.... so much here is boringly predictable.

no meat here as i can very rarely if ever afford it. and for serious health reasons and age am not allowed to fast anyways.

abstinence from fleshmeat is a deeply symbolic honouring of Jesus especially today. which means a great amount to many. myself included

if you have no belief than it is meaningless.

someone used the term immature which i endorse. so childish.

ps fish is costlier than meat so never have that either.

Grace, like me you are exempt from fast days, as we are over 70, so no requirement to fast.
I do so as a mark of respect to someone I believe (and I accept many don't) died for us.
Being on a pension still allows me eat meat any time I wish. The pension in this country is excellent and does not require any crying of the poor mouth! Fish is not more expensive than meat. We had sea bass and salmon today and it cost only 4.70 for both of us.
Anyway, back to topic. Yes I fast and abstain on Good Friday and I am happy to do so. It's no hardship and a bit of self decline does no harm now and again.

18-04-2014 07:19PM

I'm a vegetarian so it's easy enough!

Abstaining meat on Good Friday

Comments