This isn't exactly an academically or philosophically intriguing post, but I thought my experience was a bit amusing, and I wanted to share it with you.
Around 6:30 this evening (Wednesday), I went to Panera Bread on Poplar to work on my comparative paper. (Panera has a great atmosphere for studying, not to mention delicious pastries and a good cup of coffee--AND FREE WI-FI!!--I highly recommend it if you're looking for a cozy study environment). I stayed until they closed at 9:00...so I was there for roughly two and a half hours. As I was studying, a man walked past my table. I naturally glanced at him, noticing that he had a black mark on his forehead. Forgetting that today was Ash Wednesday, I chuckled to myself, thinking that he didn't realize that he had dirt on his head. A few moments later, another person walked by. She, too, had the "dirt" on her forehead. I then became puzzled, because not only did both individuals have black markings on their foreheads, but they were sitting at separate tables and not making any contact with each other whatsoever, leading me to believe that they were strangers to one another. After pondering the odd situation for a few moments, I went back to work.
Thirty minutes later, I saw another couple walk past, and again, each person had the black markings. At this point, I was extremely confused. Did all of these people separately fall in the same pile of dirt? As the hour progressed, more and more people came into Panera with ashes on their foreheads (and of course at that time, I didn't realize they were ashes). It would have been one thing if they all seemed to interact with each other, but virtually none of them did. Very confused, I began to count the number of individuals who came into the restaurant with the markings. From roughly 7:15-9:00 (you ready for this?), 53 people came into Panera with ashes imposed on their foreheads.
Eventually, of course, I realized that today was Ash Wednesday, and that these people had obviously just attended Ash Wednesday services. Needless to say, I felt like a complete idiot.
Oh well. I guess those fasting for Lent came to devour their "last supper" sweets. Who knew that Panera Bread was the place to be?
I was a little intrigued by the Ash Wednesday practices as well. Luckily, when I went to breakfast in the morning, I realized what the day was as soon as I saw two people with ash crosses on their foreheads at the Rat. I was hoping that we would discuss that in class, but I forgot to ask.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a great idea, if you cant eat meat go for Panera mac n cheese! On wednesday, the biggest surprise to me was that there was no seafood at the Rat. It was a bit of a culture shock for me because I'm a Catholic from New Orleans, where the majority of the people (64%) are Catholic and seafood is abundant and amazingly delicious. At home, every restaurant has a seafood special on Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent, so it was very sad when the best meatless meal I could get from the Rat on wednesday was pancakes and a salad. Considering only 14% of Memphis residents are Catholic, I guess the lack of Lent food is not really that surprising. Even though Panera has the best mac n cheese, I am definitely going to miss the usual friday night fried catfish dinners and crawfish boils from home.
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