BACK TO BACK SEASONS

Fasting rule eased for Chinese Catholics on  Ash Wednesday, eve of Chinese New Year
Lion dances, family feasts usher in Year of the Wooden  Sheep

Tomorrow, ashes will be marked on the foreheads of Catholics acrosss Cebu to mark the start of Lent a 40-day season in prepartion for Easter.

Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting and no-meat diets, also falls on the eve of the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, where families gather for sumptuous reunion dinners.

The two seasons are being celebrated back to back around the world, a unique bit of timing.

In Cebu, which hosts a large population of Filipino-Chinese Catholics, special permission was granted by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma to excuse this group of faithful from the food restrictions “from the afternoon of Feb. 18 until midnight.”

“We were granted dispensation from the obligation of fast and abstinence,” announced  Fr. Benjamin Sim SJ, in Sunday’s 6 p.m. Mass at the Sacred Heart Parish church in Cebu city, the oldest and largest parish of Chinese Catholics in Cebu.

On the eve of the new Lunar Year, celebrated as the Year of the Wooden Goat, it’s tradition for Chinese families to gather for a feast.

Big families of several geenrations sit around round tables, and enjoy good food that often includes  fish, “tikoy” or sticky rice cakes, oranges, and dumplings.

The Jesuit parish priest said those who avail of the dispensation on diets should do other forms of penance, “acts of mercy and charity”especially to the poor and those who suffer, in keeping with the penitential spirit of the season of Lent.

The exemption recgonizes “the cultural and spiritual importance” and,  traditional practices of some 1.3 billion Chinese in the world.
(In Manila, Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle granted a similar priveilege in his area.)

Dragon dances and firecracker blasts along with red lanterns and various Oriental décor in red will spice up hotels and commercial establishments for this important celebration in Cebu, whose retail merchant base has strong Chinese origins.

The Year of the Goat is believer to usher in happines, health and success as the goat is known for its boundless energy, bringing success to those who pursue their goals.

FAMILY BONDING

“We all gather in our parents house,”said Eric Ng Mendoza, former president of the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce,  “”our 80-year-old mother with all five children and their spouses and their children. We have dinner and wear something red for the occassion.”

Red envelopes called Ang Pao with money bills inside are distributed to family members, usually the elders and children.

“We also give each other kiat-kiat or the little ponkan oranges  to symbolize abundance and harmony all throughout the year,” said

Mendoza. Prince Warehouse retail chain owner Robert Go said his family will sit down for a sumptuous dinner to celebrate the coming of a new year.

“For most of Cebuano Chinese, being together in one dining table is enough,” said Go. Melanie Ng of NgKhai and former president of the Philippine Retailers Association Cebu chapter, said that on the eve of the Chinese New Year,  her family will gather for a simple dinner. “Simple this year because the eve falls on Ash Wednesday. We also share tikoy and prosperity cake with friends and family,” she said.

Sacred Heart Parish started in 1952 as Our Lady Queen of China Parish and was entrusted to the Jesuits.

The present church on D. Jaklosalem Street celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2012 and was made an Archdiocesan Shrine.

NO MEAT

Catholic teaching requires the faithful  aged 18 to 60 to fast or to eat less and to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday  and Good Friday which falls on April 18 this year.

Lent is a season to prepare for the celebration of the passion, death and Easter resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Ashes will be smeared on the foreheads of the faithful in church to remind them of their origin and destiny as well as to renew the call for repentance.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, media liaison officer of the Cebu Archdiocese, suggested that Chinese Catholics still follow the spiritual discipline of having “one full meal” on Ash Wednesday.

“They can have a full meal during dinner to welcome the New Year. They can have fish or something vegetarian for the celebration like the Chinese lumpia which is one of the favorite dishes,” said Tan, a Filipino of Chinese descent.

“On Thursday, we can eat whatever we want,”  he added.

“There is always an option. If we can’t avoid eating meat, it can be be replaced with acts of piety like going to Mass or praying the the stations of the cross or give alms to those in need. But I don’t want us to abuse this kind of breathing place,” he said.

Tan said Lent was the holiest of seasons in the liturgical calendar.

“This is the time when we are invited by God to renew our relationship with him,” said Tan, by acknowledging our shortcomings and sins, and being more sensitive to those in need.

In all Fridays of Lent, Catholics are encouraged to abstain from eating meat.

Fasting means one having one full meal in the day.  Exemptions are given to those 60 years old or beyond and the sick.