Giving up ear cleaning for Lent is one of the stranger ways Americans are observing. Credit: Diego Bazan, Flickr
In case the annoying filet of fish commercials haven't been enough of a wake up call, we're well into the Lenten season. In other words, the time Christians remember Jesus' 40-day stint in the desert without food or water by giving things up. For a wide range of Christian denominations, Lent is a "season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ's Resurrection on Easter Sunday, through which we attain redemption."
So what are Americans passing on in during Lent? Well, there's the usual, like alcohol and chocolate and shopping. But then there are the folks who choose more unusual sacrifices, like abstaining from psychic readings, sex, and ear cleaning.
Yes, we said ear cleaning. Or rather, Jennifer Arnold, a self-confessed "ear-cleaning-a-holic," says she's giving up her propensity for digging in her ears until Easter Sunday at least.
"I plan to give up something I've become absurdly addicted to," the Columbus, Ohio resident tells Holidash, "something that I indulge in every single day (sometimes more than once) that inevitably causes pain and long-term damage!" To try to honor God, she's going to replace all that Q-tip time with quiet time with the Scripture.
At least Arnold's Lenten abstinence brings her back to religion. But there seems to be a lure for Lenten sacrifice among non-religious types too.
Ciara Pressler confessed on her blog back in 2006 that she's "in the habit of giving things up for Lent" even though she isn't Catholic. And in that vein, her big sacrifice in '06 was giving up visits to bars she and her friends had already been to.
"This little thing that we gave up for 40 days became a big project," Pressler wrote then. "The whole point was to discover new places and meet different people." It was a 22-year-old's idea of fun, but it paid off. Today she's an event manager in New York City with a healthy knowledge of where to throw the greatest party.
Not to be outdone, other lapsed Catholics are still doing Lent these days.
"I was raised Catholic (and therefore riddled with guilt) so I was instilled with the message 'Sacrifice is good' from an early age," confesses Vicki Ramasse of N.J. "It's kind of an exercise in self-control and makes me feel that -- d---it -- if I can give up pizza anything is possible. " Of course Ramasse has yet to give up pizza. But she did give up sex with her (now ex) husband one year.
"We're not actually separated because I withheld sex during Lent -- but Lent gave me a good excuse," she says with a laugh.
In that vein, there are more than a few sacrifices made in the name of Lenten observance that are harder on those around you than yourself. Paula Laurita, a library sciences writer from Alabama, gave up reading mysteries for Lent one year, her preferred genre. "I became so cranky I decided not to do it again," Laurita admits. "As a priest friend says, 'Giving up cigarettes isn't a penance for you, it's a penance for your family.'"
On the other hand, giving up being a crank may be better for the world than giving up on your favorite guilty pleasures. Mary Ellen Nugent decided to give up frowning for Lent this year. Raised Catholic, the New York City resident says she thought it would be easy way to "give up something that doesn't serve me -- or anyone else."
"Now I'm forcing a smile at odd moments and people are actually smiling back!" Nugent tells Holidash. "Sometimes it's not as easy as I thought it would be, but I'm really glad I gave it up. It's been an interesting journey so far!"
A few of other favorites from our polls of the nation? One mom says she's not going to get a psychic reading during the Lenten season, while her daughter is giving up Facebook until the Easter bunny comes hopping into town. One man told us he's giving up on all the new year's resolutions he made, and a mom swears she won't text and drive.
One thing's for sure: Lent may be the season of sacrifice, but Americans are redefining "sacrifice" with each slice of verboten bread they bypass and F-bomb they hold back. What is the strangest thing you've given up?
