Saturday 3 January 2015

You Do Not Own the Calendar

Further to the priest who complained about Easter Eggs in the shops at New Year.

And people who complain about Christmas products in September.

And anybody who ever remarks that hot cross buns are on sale all year round (to be fair, this blog deals with such a thing quite sensibly)

You do not own the calendar. If you want to eat only mint leaves in Lent, that's up to you. If you don't want to buy tinsel until Advent, then schedule your shopping in Advent. But, if you do this in an ostentatious manner, don't let me ever catch you singing a Christmas Carol before Christmas Eve. You will be satirised forever. I promise. You can decide how you want to arrange your own shopping schedule. You can arrange your own services. But you do not own the calendar. If other consenting adults want to carry out transactions of seasonal products outside when you personally consider them appropriate, that is tough.

The religious person who says that it's outrageous there are Simnel Cakes sold in July (I've no idea, I just made this one up...) is saying that, on the basis of their religious beliefs, they have a right to tell other people off for their shopping habits. No they don't. I'm pretty sure Christendom has gone, and I'm frankly quite pleased about it.

You can manage your own lives. That's fine. You can eat seasonal foods at your own seasonal times. That's very wise. You are marking rhythm and balance in your own life, church, spiritual activities. This is sensible and healthy. But - regardless of where we get the basis for it from - you do not own the calendar.

8 comments :

  1. Replies
    1. Then you can eat Creme Eggs in your own time, Ray.

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  2. Sold out to Tesco, have we?

    I object less to the fact that hot cross buns are in the shops almost all the year round than I do to the fact that the one day I can't buy them is Good Friday.

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  3. No good Christian should venture anywhere near the shops on Good Friday. Hot cross buns remain hot and cross if purchased on Maundy Thursday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They don't. They go stale remarkably fast (mainly because ours get shipped out of the bakery on Tuesday to go on the boat to be sold where I live on Wednesday and Thursday)

      And as I'm probably neither good nor a Christian these days, your argument is moot.

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  4. People who buy Easter eggs in January have missed the whole point of the Cross and Resurrection, and so are unsaved persons. Discuss.

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    Replies
    1. Maybe that's right, maybe not. Maybe they're just getting ready early. Maybe that's arguing from a specific instance to a much wider and more important one.

      But maybe when ministers hop up and down in the news complaining about things like this, they make themselves look like they're telling other people what to do, about things that don't make much difference.

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  5. My 1959 Canadian Book of Common Prayer says that Good Friday is a fast day. What are good Anglicans doing eating hot cross buns on that day?

    ReplyDelete

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