Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day of the week.
Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day is the day before Ash Wednesday, observed in many Christian countries through participating in confession and absolution, the ritual burning of the previous year's Holy Week palms, finalizing one's Lenten sacrifice, as well as eating pancakes and other sweets.
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent, the six weeks of penitence before Easter.
A Sunday roast or roast dinner is a traditional meal of British origin. Although it can be consumed throughout the week, it is traditionally consumed on Sunday. It consists of roasted meat, roasted potatoes and accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, gravy, and condiments such as apple sauce, mint sauce, or redcurrant sauce. A wide range of vegetables can be served as part of a roast dinner, such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, parsnips, or peas, which can be boiled, steamed, or roasted alongside the meat and potatoes.
Christian vegetarianism is the practice of keeping to a vegetarian lifestyle for reasons connected to or derived from the Christian faith. The three primary reasons are spiritual, nutritional, and ethical. The ethical reasons may include a concern for God's creation, a concern for animal rights and welfare, or both. Likewise, Christian veganism is not using any animal products for reasons connected to or derived from the Christian faith.
A fish fry is a meal containing battered or breaded fried fish. It usually also includes french fries, coleslaw, macaroni salad, lemon slices, tartar sauce, hot sauce, malt vinegar and dessert. Some Native American versions are cooked by coating fish with semolina and egg yolk.
The Friday fast is a Christian practice of variously abstaining from meat, dairy products and alcohol, on Fridays, or holding a fast on Fridays, that is found most frequently in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist traditions. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, written in the first century A.D., directed Christians to fast on both Wednesdays and Fridays. The Wednesday fast is done in remembrance of the story of the betrayal of Christ by Judas on Spy Wednesday, while the Friday fast is done in commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. As such, all Fridays of the year have been historically kept in many parts of Christendom as a day of strict fasting and abstinence from alcohol, meat and lacticinia. Abstinence from meat on Fridays is done as a sacrifice by many Christians because they believe that on Good Friday, Jesus sacrificed his flesh for humanity. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, in addition to fasting from food until sundown, the faithful are enjoined to abstain from sexual relations on Fridays as well.
The Catholic Church historically observes the disciplines of fasting and abstinence at various times each year. For Catholics, fasting is the reduction of one's intake of food, while abstinence refers to refraining from something that is good, and not inherently sinful, such as meat. The Catholic Church teaches that all people are obliged by God to perform some penance for their sins, and that these acts of penance are both personal and corporeal. Bodily fasting is meaningless unless it is joined with a spiritual avoidance of sin. Basil of Caesarea gives the following exhortation regarding fasting:
Let us fast an acceptable and very pleasing fast to the Lord. True fast is the estrangement from evil, temperance of tongue, abstinence from anger, separation from desires, slander, falsehood and perjury. Privation of these is true fasting.
The Copts, who belong mostly to the Coptic Orthodox Church, observe fasting periods according to the Coptic calendar. These fasting periods are exceeded by no other Christian community except the Orthodox Tewahedo. Out of the 365 days of the year, Copts often fast between 210 and 240 days. This means that Copts abstain from all animal products for up to two-thirds of each year. Coptic Orthodox fasts have evolved over time to become more lengthy and severe. A lifestyle involving such fasts may have contributed to the pacifist mindset of the Coptic people for centuries.
A Black Fast, also known as a strict fast, is an ancient form of early Christian fasting. Those undertaking a Black Fast consume no food or water during the day and then break the fast after sunset with prayer, the meal often but not necessarily being devoid of meat, eggs, dairy, and alcohol. Historically, most Christians fasted in this way during Lent. Many monastics still retain this practice, which is optional for laymen.
Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Asceticism has not been a dominant theme within Judaism, but minor to significant ascetic traditions have been a part of Jewish spirituality.
Meat-free days or veggiedays are declared to discourage or prohibit the consumption of meat on certain days of the week. Mondays and Fridays are the most popular days. There are also movements encouraging people giving up meat on a weekly, monthly, or permanent basis.
An Easter basket, also known as a Paschal basket, is traditionally, a basket containing the foods traditionally forbidden to consume during Lent, that is blessed by a priest for breaking the Lenten fast. This continues to be normative in Eastern Christianity and Easter baskets are typically blessed before the midnight service on Holy Saturday, with their contents being consumed at the feast after the service.
Lent is the solemn Christian religious observance in the liturgical year commemorating the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, before beginning his public ministry. Lent is observed in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, Moravian, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, United Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions of Christianity. Some Anabaptist, Baptist, Reformed, and nondenominational Christian churches also observe Lent, although many churches in these traditions do not.
The Daniel Fast, in Christianity, is a partial fast, in which meat, dairy, alcohol, and other rich foods are avoided in favor of vegetables and water in order to be more sensitive to God. The fast is based on the lifelong kosher diet of the Jewish hero Daniel in the biblical Book of Daniel and the three-week mourning fast in which Daniel abstained from all meat and wine. Among Catholic and Mainline Protestant Christians, the Daniel Fast has been practiced by some during the 40-day season of Lent, though the Daniel Fast can variously be set at three weeks, or even ten days. As such, evangelical Christian churches such as those of the Baptist tradition, have partaken in the fast at various times of the year. The passage in Chapter 1 refers to a 10-day test wherein Daniel and others with him were permitted to eat vegetables and water to avoid the Babylonian king's food and wine. After remaining healthy at the end of the 10-day period, they continued the vegetable diet for the three years of their education. The passage in Chapter 10 refers to a three-week fast of no meat, wine, or rich food. In addition to the practices of fasting and abstinence undertaken during the Daniel Fast, Christians may also add spiritual disciplines such as daily church attendance, increased prayer, as well as the reading of Sacred Scripture and a daily devotional.
Christian dietary laws vary between denominations. The general dietary restrictions specified for Christians in the New Testament are to "abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals". Some Christian denominations forbid certain foods during periods of fasting, which in some cases may cover half the year and may exclude meat, fish, dairy products, and olive oil.
A Lenten sacrifice is a spiritually motivated voluntary renunciation of a pleasure or luxury that most Christians give up for the observance of Lent, which starts on Ash Wednesday. The tradition of Lent has its roots in Jesus Christ praying and fasting for forty days in the desert according to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. When Lent is over and Easter Sunday arrives, the faithful are able to indulge in what they sacrificed during the Lenten season.
Fasting and abstinence have historically constituted a major element of the practice of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, following the counsel of Saint Paul to "chastise the body and bring it under subjection" per 1 Corinthians 9:27. It is generally agreed, and asserted by the Church itself, that the fasting regime of the Ethiopian Church is the strictest of any Church, with 180 mandatory fasting days for laypeople and up to 252 days for clergy and the particularly observant. The general list of fasts are laid out in the Fetha Negest.
A Lenten supper is a meal that takes place in the evenings to break the day's fast during the Christian liturgical season of Lent, which is widely observed by members of the Catholic, Lutheran, Moravian, Anglican, Methodist, and United Protestant traditions, in addition to certain Reformed denominations.
Fasting is practiced in various religions. Examples include Lent in Christianity and Yom Kippur, Tisha B'av, Fast of Esther, Fast of Gedalia, the Seventeenth of Tammuz, and the Tenth of Tevet in Judaism. Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan each year. The fast includes refraining from consuming any food or liquid from sun up until sundown.
