Lent - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Lent

Cross made by Dad for Mom, Michelangelo’s La Pieta Statue, Lucy’s Easter Basket

With Lent half over, our priest on Sunday asked the parishioners how we are doing so far, especially regarding fasting, almsgiving and prayer, the three pillars of current Lenten observances. His sermon caused me to recollect (after mass, not during!) as a kid how the Lenten practice back then seemed primarily focused on giving up something as a penance for the 40 days of Lent. No meat on Friday was first and foremost, which meant Mom would make us kids each an egg sandwich packaged in a brown paper bag to eat after mass before school started each Friday during Lent. To this day, I love egg sandwiches, my meal of choice when going out for breakfast.

So giving up meat on Friday’s was not really that difficult during Lent. Neither was giving up candy as we never had any around the house anyway, plus I preferred to spend my weekly $1 allowance money as a kid on other more important things like baseball cards or sports equipment.

Sara

My sister Sara recollects that Mom’s cooking really changed during Lent with plenty of soft boiled eggs, corn bread with milk for supper and left over fried corn bread topped with syrup for breakfast the next morning, Toasted cheese with tomato soup was also a Lenten mainstay for supper. Yum! She forgives Mom for the lard used in preparation! The worst Lenten meals Mom made were the salmon patties and tuna fish salad. Yuck! Friday fish fries during Lent at the Loramie Legion also provided special memories and were definitely not much of a Lenten penance.

Probably the most challenging aspect of Lent for me and my siblings was the daily rosary in the family living room with an established seating arrangement to separate us 5 kids, plus assigning each of us to recite one of the five mysteries, forcing us to pay attention. Mom sure had her techniques! Sara recalls always staking out the seat across from my little brother Luke to watch him squirm and make grimaces during the rosary which admittedly she may have sublimely instigated! If one of us got too rowdy we had to kneel until the rosary was completed.

The last week of Lent was also especially demanding with the long church services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Plus, typically I was an alter server for many of those services, which meant arriving early and staying longer to extend the church times even more for our family. And Dad or Mom always volunteered to have their feet washed during services on Thursday. My sister did as well. Not for me! I stuck to serving.

Prayer and fasting were prevalent during our Lenten services back then, almsgiving not so much, as our family had little money to give! I can recall Dad complaining about the annual $5 pew rent that was charged to all parishioners back then. Looking back, we definitely were financially poor, but as a kid we never considered ourselves in that plight. Mom and Dad likely felt that way, but fortunately we never went hungry and thanks to Mom’s seamstress skills, we always had new clothes; at least us older kids, as the younger one’s got our hand-me-downs! Self sufficiency on the farm keep my parents afloat at the time, important skills learned during the earlier Great Depression and WWII.

Sara, Ann, Lucy, Dave Praying at Maria Stein Relic Chapel 1958

Finally Easter Sunday would come and Lent was over. We started celebrating immediately after services on Holy Saturday by going over to my grandmother’s place. Check out this blog about a very disappointing Holy Saturday night back in 1961 when the undefeated Buckeyes lost the NCAA championship to the Cincinnati Bearcats in overtime.

Easter Sunday meant everyone was dressed to the nines, thanks to Mom’s sewing skills. Everything was homemade but looked absolutely perfect, especially the Easter bonnets!

Sara, Lucy & Ann with Mom in their Easter Outfits - 1957

Here are some more Lenten memories from my other siblings:

Luke

Brother Luke - Going to the 3-hour mass seem like an eternity when I was younger. But afterwards we would run to Sidney to Murphy's and get some last minute things Mom needed. My outfit was pretty much standard white shirt black pants for Easter Sunday. Helping dad plant the garden on Good Friday happened a few of those years with the weather permitting. After Holy Saturday services was usually when the candy showed up along with waiting for the Easter Bunny on Sunday morning. Hunting Easter eggs around the yard was always a fond memory.

Lucy with Daughter and Grandkids

Sister Lucy - I remember almost always giving up candy for Lent. Now I give up all sweets and alcohol. It makes everything taste so good on Easter. On Ash Wednesday all the classes went to Mass and wore the ashes all day at school. Only one regular meal was allowed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and no snitching in between meals; fasting only! We always had to rake the grass and do spring clean up outside so the Easter Bunny wouldn't trip up and drop the eggs and candy, which was our incentive to do the work. Good Friday was church, which included stations of the cross & Mass, followed by work but no play or shopping per my recollection. We were able to fish in the creek if our yard work was done. Good Friday services also included exposure of the cross, kissing or touching the feet of the cross along with lots of chanting, kneeling and standing. The Saturday night Easter vigil was always long, as well. But then there was a visit with Grandma, Uncle Bob and Aunt Carolyn following the services.

 

Uncle Bob

Avid hunter Bob of course said he shot the Easter Bunny again as he claimed every year! :) But when Easter bunny came the next day, we knew better! Mom stored the baskets in a big copper kettle. Dad had a bunny basket from his baby years that held just one egg!!

I remember coloring eggs once I didn’t believe in the Easter bunny any more after seeing Dad hide some eggs one Easter from my bedroom window before we were all up. My Birthday unfortunately occurred during Lent every year!

 

Ann

Sister Ann - After seeing the earlier photo of the three sisters with Mom all dressed up on Easter 1957, she exclaimed, "Dang, we’re a good looking bunch!”

At the end of Lent, click this link.

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