Ember Days

Ember Days are the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after Ash Wednesday, Pentecost Sunday, The Feast of the Exultation of the Cross, and the Feast of St. Lucy.    Back when the church was much more fun.   The Ember days were special days set aside for reflection, fasting and the ordination of clergy.   These four times a year correspond to the four seasons, and are called Ember days as an anglicanization of the Latin  Quatuor Tempora, meaning ‘four times a year’ (quatuor tEMBORa, ya get it?).


In fact in sixteenth century Nagasaki, Spanish and Portuguese missionaries arrived after Japan was re-opened.   The story of why missionaries were thrown out of Japan in the first place is recounted in the Saint of the Day for the Martyrs of Nagasaki (Feast 6 February); one of my favorite stories of faith.   Anyhooo, these European missionaries sought ways of making tasty meatless meals for Embertide and started deep-frying shrimp. The idea caught on with the Japanese, who applied the process to a number of different sea foods and vegetables. They called this delicious food—have you guessed it yet?—“tempura,” again from Quatuor Tempora.  

In an effort to return Roman Catholicism to the fun Religion we all know it to be, the Church, during the time of John Paul II, has begun to slowly re institute the Ember Days, albeit quietly without fanfare.   Also Rogation Day but that’s another story.   Plus, Benedict XVI has encouraged re institution of the more traditional rites.   There you go…..We’re gonna begin Mass with Ad Altarie Dei before you know it…by cracky!  

The Ember dates can be remembered by this old mnemonic:

Sant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut sit in angaria quarta sequens feria.

Which means:

Holy Cross, Lucy, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost,
are when the quarter holidays follow.

For non-Latinists, it might be easier to just remember:

 Cross, Lucy, Ashes, Dove

Ember Days thank God Above

Or simply: Crucy , Lucy, Lenty, Penty

These times are spent fasting, one meal a day, and partially abstaining, eating meat only once a day (this is voluntary since the new Code of Canon Law).   On the old calendars days of partial abstinence had a half a fish on them, pretty funny.   Also these days should be spent in penance and with the intentions of thanking God for the gifts He gives us in nature and beseeching Him for the discipline to use them in moderation.   It is suggested that modern Ember days should be spent praying for an increase in religious vocations.   Because of the days' focus on nature, they are also traditional times for women to pray for children and safe deliveries.

There is an old medieval superstition that says during Embertides, the souls in Purgatory are allowed to appear visibly to those on earth who pray for them.
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Quite interestingly, the Old Farmer’s Almanac also says that the weather conditions of each of the three days of an Embertide foretells the weather of the next three months, respectively -- i.e.:

The weather of:	foretells the weather of:
Wednesday of Advent Embertide	January
Friday of Advent Embertide	February
Saturday of Advent Embertide	March
Wednesday of Lenten Embertide	April
Friday of Lenten Embertide	May
Saturday of Lenten Embertide	June
Wednesday of Pentecost Embertide	July
Friday of Pentecost Embertide	August
Saturday of Pentecost Embertide	September
Wednesday of Holy Cross Embertide	October
Friday of Holy Cross Embertide	November
Saturday of Holy Cross Embertide	December