The Native Iowan

I grew up Catholic. Very Catholic. Easter, Easter Sunday, and the extra goodies, only came after the 40days of Lent. Good Catholics took pride in not-doing-with during Lent… not doing with sweets, or dessert. or movies on Saturdays. Lent for a kid raised Catholic was kinda bleak.

Easter was good, worth looking forward to, but before Easter, being Catholic, we had all sorts of time consuming and self deprecating customs… The Stations Of The Cross… who remembers that one. How many times can you say the Rosary in a single day? It was called “Holy Week” and we said the rosary a whole bunch before Easter Sunday. We “did” the stations of the cross a lot during Holy Week.

Who remembers? https://www.catholic.org/prayers/station.php

The Stations of the Cross are a 14-step Catholic devotion that commemorates Jesus Christ’s last day on Earth as a man. The 14 devotions, or stations, focus on specific events of His last day, beginning with His condemnation. The stations are commonly used as a mini pilgrimage as the individual moves from station to station. At each station, the individual recalls and meditates on a specific event from Christ’s last day. Specific prayers are recited, then the individual moves to the next station until all 14 are complete. The Stations of the Cross are commonly found in churches as a series of 14 small icons or images. They can also appear in church yards arranged along paths. The stations are most commonly prayed during Lent on Wednesdays and Fridays, and especially on Good Friday, the day of the year upon which the events actually occurred.

I am sitting in golden sunshine. The air is cool. Calmness pervades. My sperm-bank, Dandy, snoozes by the door. A scent of a breeze from the north. Wind chimes waiver silently. My bitches all snooze in their kennels, waiting feeding-time.

I revel in my memory, remembering is good…

Easter, being the end of Lent, would mean a grand feast, after Easter-Mass. There’d be a Priest or two, A couple or three Nuns, friends and Family. Mom would have been cooking and fix’n for days. The table laden with fresh, good “Vittles”. Lots of good Mom’s-home-made sweets. My favourite was the greek sugar cookies, kourabietes… https://souvlakiforthesoul.com/koulouria/

My mom was raised Orthodox, so we got both Catholic and Greek Easters. Both were good.

Remembering is Guuuud

more later