Oooh, I missed posting one of my favourite very silly memes yesterday! Every year in this household I say "So, what are you giving up for Lent?" to the Atheist housemate, and every year they cheerfully yell back "PANCAKES!"

I was raised for the first part of my life in the High Anglican Church (otherwise known as "full bells and smells") so I notice the days on the calendar, even if I don't attend.

@caity High Anglican camp?

Oooh, I missed posting one of my favourite very silly memes yesterday! Every year in this household I say "So, what are you giving up for Lent?" to the Atheist housemate, and every year they cheerfully yell back "PANCAKES!"

I was raised for the first part of my life in the High Anglican Church (otherwise known as "full bells and smells") so I notice the days on the calendar, even if I don't attend.

@caity It reminds me of the jolly Catholic ritual on Ash Wednesday, when the priest would mutter "remember man that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return", while rubbing a bit of ash on my forehead. I can't remember when this started, maybe age 8 or 9?

Also a boy in my class realising his mum had given him a devon and sauce sandwich, and throwing away the devon!

@AvonVilla I do miss that bit of the Ash Wednesday service. My memory is of seeing who else was wandering around in my public school trying to keep their forehead piously ashy!

@caity In recent years (well, this century, anyway) I had an openly Catholic work colleague. Somehow we managed to retain a sense of shared cultural heritage, even after I told him, on just one occasion, I now believe that the entire Catholic religion is atrocious and should, ideally, be abandoned. Later he showed up with the ashes prominently marking his forehead at the start of Lent and we had another friendly chat about shared religious rituals of my past and his present. I didn't bother with the atheist rant. Social cohesion was in place.

I had also had an Anglican colleague who appreciated my ex-Catholic atheism because he considered it a point for team protestant, which was actually slightly galling. I took that as permission to be a bit more of an arsehole atheist and more freely say to him what I really think about the whole cursed death cult of Christianity.