Ash Wednesday - the end or the beginning?

Even though I've lived in Germany for so long, it never fails to amaze me how the same dates can mean different things in the two countries of Germany and Britain.

Take, for example, 11 November. In Germany, it's a day associated with fun, since it's the day that kicks off the Carnival season, also known as 'the fifth season'. It's a time of partying and dressing up, a time that enlivens the drab days of winter. Its culmination is Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), a day of parades and silly costumes, of sweets being thrown into the crowds lining the streets, of Carnival songs and lots of drink. The hardest bit of the partying starts on the previous Thursday and finishes 4 days later.

In the UK, however, the 11th day of the 11th month is probably the most solemn of the entire year as it's the day on which the British remember the dead of all the wars. It's not a day of fun at all. And the disparity in the way both nations treat this day shocks me every time.

Yesterday, I went to my sketching and drawing classes and in each class, someone asked whether there would be a lesson next week. The VHS (adult education college) is taking a break over the Carnival weekend. Both times, the teacher said, "Yes, there'll be a lesson. Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. Everything will all be over by then."

Now for me, Ash Wednesday is just the beginning - not of the party season but of Lent. Ash Wednesday is the start of the serious bit of spring, not the end of the fun bit of winter.

Anyway, as I usually do over Lent, I shall be giving something up as a test of my willpower. It took some time to figure out what I wanted to give up this year. Often, it's been crisps and chocolates, but as I don't eat much of either any more, that would be no big deal.

I hereby officially state that, as of Ash Wednesday, I shall be foregoing anything to do with rice and potatoes AND.... reading online newspapers after 9 a.m. I spent much too much time reading and commenting on The Guardian and Daily Mail newspapers and there are better things that I could be doing with all that time...such as MOOCs and Duolingo.

I am already mentally girding up my loins for the ordeal.