Melanie McDonagh is a writer on ecclesiastical matters and this week she was advocating the extension of the Christmas season beyond the usual twelfth night (January 6^th) to Candlemas (February 2^nd).
Her reasons are simplistic but valid.
It’s been a rough old year, what with the pandemic and everything that has gone with it from the furlough, to working from home to being on benefits and possibly not on benefits.
Her suggestions this year include foregoing a dry January and forgetting the so called Veganuary.
Now is not the time for abstinence.
This year, we need cheering up. People have died, businesses have gone under, we can’t meet our friends. This is no time for abstinence. It’s a time for embracing a cheering drink – in moderation. There are moments you need just a little inebriating uplift, and proper food. That time is now.
Abstinence in January is rubbish any year. When the outside is depressing, you want to make inside as cheerful as possible…and that doesn’t mean a diet. It’s still Christmas. We need all the comfort we can get.
But why stop on the February 2^nd?
February brings us Valentine’s Day on the 14^th followed by Shrove Tuesday on the 16^th. Even Lent can be manageable as it is suspended on Sunday’s and on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17^th). Easter (April 4^th) gently leads us forward to Pentecost (May 23^rd). After which is full throttle until November, when we remember the Holy Souls and get ourselves in trim for the next set of Christmas festivities.
So, let’s ditch dry January and put Veganism in its place.
Melanie McDonough’s article may be found on: http://digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/462/reader/reader.html?social#!preferred/0/package/462/pub/462/page/68/article/117613