Pretzels And Lent

I like soft, cinnamon-sugar pretzels. But, I never knew pretzels' history is connected to Lent. Stan Dyer writes:

Made from just flour and water, (salt is OK), they were the perfect Lenten food. Even the easily recognizable and tradition “twist” has its roots in religion. The folded twist is meant to resemble arms crossed in prayer. At one time, people crossed their arms across their chests in pretzel fashion when praying instead of simply putting their two hands together. In fact, in Latin, the word for these braids of bread was “bracellae”, or “little arms”. The word was later corrupted in German to “bretzel”, and, once the voicing was lost from the bilabial stop, it became “pretzel”. Many people following Catholic Law would only eat one meal a day during Lent, but would ease the in between time by snacking on pretzels.

So, I Googled the words "pretzel" and "lent" after reading Dyer's article. I was a bit surprised to learn of the connection between Lent and pretzels.

Fr. William Saunders wrote in the Catholic Education Resource Center:

According to pretzel maker Snyder’s of Hanover, a young monk in the early 600s in Italy was preparing a special Lenten bread of water, flour and salt. To remind his brother monks that Lent was a time of prayer, he rolled the bread dough in strips and then shaped each strip in the form of crossed arms, mimicking the then popular prayer position of folding one’s arms over each other on the chest. The bread was then baked as a soft bread, just like the big soft pretzels one can find today. (To be fair, some traditions date the story to even the 300s.)

Because these breads were shaped into the form of crossed arms, they were called bracellae, the Latin word for "little arms." From this word, the Germans derived the word bretzel which has since mutated to the familiar word pretzel.

Another possibility for the origins of the word pretzel is that the young monk gave these breads to children as a reward when they could recite their prayers. The Latin word pretiola means "little reward," from which pretzel could also be reasonably derived.

So, this Lent you may enjoy a pretzel and appreciate the history associated with it. I must wait until Easter to enjoy any pastry or candy. I gave those up for Lent. So far, I'm doing well.

The Pope and The New KFC Fish Sandwich

Lent started this year with a joke/surprise from the KFC:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For years, anything produced by KFC had to meet the standards of Colonel Harlan Sanders.

For its new product, the fried chicken chain is seeking a higher endorsement. KFC has asked Pope Benedict XVI to bless the Fish Snacker Sandwich, a Lenten addition to the chain’s Snacker sandwich line.

KFC sent the Pope a letter earlier this month, asking him to bestow a blessing on the sandwich. While the sandwich is being marketed generally, John O’Reilly, chief marketing officer for KFC, said the sandwich should prove especially popular on Friday’s, when Catholics traditionally don’t eat meat in the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday.

Read more...

I rarely eat at KFC and this new commercial appeal to American Catholics won't make me eat at their restaurants.

KFC: Our Daily Chicken

It's time for another Catholic joke. I hope you enjoy it:

A salesman from KFC walked up to the Pope and offers him a million dollars if he would change "The Lord's Prayer" from "give us this day our daily bread" to "give us this day our daily chicken." The Pope refused his offer.

Two weeks later, the man offered the pope 10 million dollars to change it from "give us this day our daily bread" to "give us this day our daily chicken" and again the Pope refused the man's generous offer.

Another week later, the man offered the Pope 20 million dollars and finally the Pope
accepted.

The following day, the Pope said to all his officials, "I have some good news and some bad news. 'The good news is, that we have just received a check for 20 million dollars. The bad news is, we lost the Wonder Bread account!'"

Source: Comedy Central

A Tasting For Some Other Place

On Tuesday evening, the Beaumont Civic Center buzzed with people who came to taste the delicious food made by different organizations and churches for the annual "A Tasting For Some Other Place." The proceeds from the event go to Some Other Place. The Beaumont Enterprise states:

Some Other Place - an ecumenical mission that provides food, clothing and household goods as well as financial assistance for rent, medications and utilities for the indigent in Southeast Texas.

This was my first time to attend the event. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the spirit of good will and giving. I didn't taste any of the food because I was busy making photographs to document the event for this blog.