Happy Clean Monday!

[Winifred]

Well, I clean missed Maslenitsa (Pancake Week)(http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/russia/a/maslenitsa.htm) this year, so I'll wish everyone a Happy Clean Monday! Today, Clean Monday, is the first day of Orthodox Lent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Monday

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Easter holiday runs differently, although this year, both Western and Eastern Easter are on April 24.

I'd like to know why Lent is longer for Orthodox Lent than for us? We have Fat Tuesday tomorrow and Ash Wednesday is our first day of Lent.

[musi]

I think the difference in length depends on methods of calculations, but I am not sure :) For me maslenitsa was always more significant because of the pancakes (here they eat donuts for Fat Thursday), however, I don't much celebrate any other parts of the Lent period - although I understand the historical need for it, I think early spring is the worst time to be having a lack of vitamins. :)

[Phantom Paragrapher]

Today in NZ is Shrove Tuesday - Our Pancake Day :)