-=> Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 03-27-19  07:34 <=-

 JM> Nancy wrote --
 
 >  JM> Maybe St Pat's is considered a feast day, like Sunday's in Lent
 >  JM> which are always feast and never fast days?  
 > I suppose that's a possibility...  Not being Catholic, I didn't know
 > about the Sundays in Lent being feast not fast days....

 JM> Sunday, in the Catholic tradition, is always a feast day, never a
 JM> fast day.
 JM> (I've always wondered why fast days seem to move so slowly).

Obviously, not occupying one's time in the spiritual things that it's
supposed to be enabling... <G>

 JM> And most fast days are merely fasting from certain foods, not going
 JM> without food completely.

I did know that... 

 JM> Little history lesson.
 JM> In the Middle Ages the church and king owned nearly all the land and
 JM> whatever was on it.  (Along with a few scattered noblemen).  Thus for
 JM> example even fallen tree limbs could not be picked up by the average
 JM> peasant for fuel since the land the tree grew on was not theirs nor
 JM> where the limbs that fell off.
 JM> What the king/nobles didn't own the church/monasteries did.
 JM> Thus if a river, stream, whatever flowed past the monastery (and
 JM> most houses, whatever, did for the water) the monastery owned the fish
 JM> in the river.  These they would catch and sell.  From this grew the
 JM> tradition (it was never church law) of fish on Friday so the church
 JM> would have a steady weekly income from the fish. This extended to the
 JM> seas which the king owned, along with whatever was in it, to a certain
 JM> point some miles from land. This in turn led to whatever country owning
 JM> so much of the sea from the shore, which is still common with one being
 JM> in national or international waters.

Yup... knew that, too...  

 JM> During Prohibition one could drink 12 miles off the coast, in
 JM> international waters, leading to cruises were people would steam out
 JM> 12 miles, get sloshed legally, then sail back home.  (It was a bit
 JM> tricky getting the illegal booze on board the ship in an American
 JM> harbour to begin with, but that's another story).   

I'm not sure I knew all of that, though...   Makes sense, however...  

 JM> This ends today's history lesson.  There will be a test later. Joe

Will this be on the test, or will the test be on the next part that you
didn't get to yet....?   

ttyl      neb

... Pardon me, but are we by any chance consanguinous...

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