Fight Between Carnival and Lent.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1559
(From Flickr)
This is not one of my usual photos taken during our travels over the years but it is from one of our journeys. A few years ago we were in Brisbane on Shrove Tuesday. There was a service of Holy Communion at St John's Cathedral at midday that day as there was every weekday. It was an excellent service with a short sermon. The preacher gave us each a copy of this Bruegel painting and explained its contents. He then went on to speak briefly about the traditions of Shrove Tuesday.
It is a remarkable painting very much in Bruegel's style. There is a great deal of action which takes place between the village inn and the church. On the inn side (left) is a procession of the carnival characters, each well fed, plump and indulging in all sorts of outrageous behaviour. At the head of this procession is Prince Carnival, obese and rumbunctious, seated not on a steed but on a large barrel pulled by his supporters who are clearly having a good time. On the church side is another procession, this time of thin, humble, hungry people - some being accosted by church officials presumably to pay their dues. At the head of this procession is Lady Lent a tall, emaciated woman. She and Prince Carnival are about to participate in a parody joust in which they do not face head on but rather pass each other attempting to dethrone each other from their steed. In the case of Lady Lent her steed is a mean trolly and she is seated on a hard 3-legged chair. Neither has an actual lance. Prince Carnival (a butcher) has a spit with a suckling pig, poultry and sausages while Lady Lent has a baker's peel with 2 small herrings. The picture shows the clash of two worlds - the overindulgence of Carnival opposed to the deprivation of Lent.
For us, Shrove Tuesday is a moment of transition. It is a transition in thinking as much as a transition in action. It is a deliberate moment of self-examination, a time to throw out, to jettison thinking that leads to self-indulgence and to substitute thinking that leads to self-awareness and awareness of the needs of others, as a prelude to beginning our annual pilgrimage through Lent.
The Painting also illustrates really well another issue which is as real to us as it was in the 16th century. This is best illustrated by a very pertinent post that was recently shared on Facebook by Carlos A Rodriguez. It simply said, "Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor; but because we cannot satisfy the rich."
Peace, justice and blessings as you begin your Lenten journey.
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