Day 55 – Fat Tuesday

Today’s post is also going to be pretty short because I want to devote as much time as possible to working on my paper for Dr. Jackson and getting all of my reading done for my other classes.

There is no picture today because I was not back in Amherst to get the photo that fits today. Today is Fat Tuesday, the day before the start of Lent, the forty day liturgical season before Easter. The photo I had in mind today would have been of the lines of people at Kiedrowski’s Bakery at 6 a.m. waiting for one thing I think about when the beginning of Lent comes around: Paczki. For those of you who do not come from an area with lots of ethnic people around, paczki are deep-fried pieces of rich dough filled with fruit and other fillings. They are of Polish descent. Traditionally, the reason for making paczki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, which are (or at least were before Vatican II) forbidden during Lent. I am sure they are made now because people think they are tasty and bakeries can make a lot of money on them this time of year, but for whatever reason they exist, I am glad they do.

I was sad today because Hillsdale had cheap knockoffs of paczki which were more like jelly doughnuts. I wish I could have been in line waiting for Paczki this morning, or at least had a few paczki that someone else in my family picked up. I am not going to get to eat them for another couple years now, since they are only made during this time of year. How sad!