The Priest
Fr Paddy Byrne CC, based in Portlaoise, says: “It’s very positive nowadays that people have a clear choice (about not eating meat), years ago it was compulsory. I know many people who make that choice on Ash Wednesday, and who make it on Fridays throughout the year.
“We are going up to our local shopping centre to highlight to the secular world that it is Ash Wednesday. Thirty years ago, 90% of people knew it was Ash Wednesday. I’d say it’s 30% nowadays and that’s a generous statistic. We get a positive response. We’ll have a sacred space where we’ll be offering ashes. Both visibly and physically, people like that touch.
“We have a novena that started last Wednesday night and it will run throughout lent. Last year we had 2,000 people every Wednesday night.
“The Blessing of Throats is also still very popular. It’s not just about doing without, it’s also about giving more of oneself, something that is highlighted in the Trócaire campaign.
“I love Lent and I love Easter, it’s the highlight of my year. It’s a great story and it’s a hopeful season. It’s the culmination of spring bringing in summer.”
The Vegetarian Restaurant
Cornucopia is a very popular vegetarian restaurant on Wicklow Street, just off Dublin’s Grafton Street. Does the eatery notice an increase in people coming in on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday?
“We do actually,” says Deirdre McCafferty, owner and proprietor.
“We looked at sales figures back to 2010 and there’s definitely a difference, especially last year.
“On Ash Wednesday I see a lot of people with ashes in the restaurant. Good Friday is a bit different. It was traditionally a day town was very quiet. Businesses would close and people would go to the stations. You were traditionally meant to give staff time off to go to the stations. 27 years ago, my late husband used to say that people not going to the stations had to stay and clean.”
But times have changed and Good Friday is much busier, with Deirdre seeing a lot of both Irish and Eastern European Catholics in the restaurant on Good Friday.
“Fasting and eating lighter foods is always associated with prayer and meditation,” says Deirdre. “It puts you in a more spiritual space. People would traditionally have fasted to pray better and reach a different dimension of themselves. When you have heavy food sitting in your tummy you’re not in a space to pray deeply. That’s where the tradition comes from.”
Deirdre says that along with health, animal rights and environment, spirituality is one of the main reasons why people are vegetarian. Cornucopia is open 28 years and Deirdre says that even from the get-go, this wasn’t a place crammed with hippies.
“I’ve never seen anyone in beads or sandals in here, It’s quite a sophisticated place,” laughs Deirdre. Cornucopia customers, instead, are in very smart business clothes.
“From the get-go we had a cross-section of tourists, business people, students, and medical people, including nurses. You could walk in here in a fur coat and no one would say a word.”
The Butcher
Jack McCarthy from McCarthy’s of Kanturk, Cork, a butchers that’s been in business for five generations, says: “People still abide by the tradition (of not eating meat), especially in rural areas. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are similar, but Ash Wednesday comes upon people without them realising it.
“We work less on Good Friday so we’d factor in a lot of the maintenance work on that day. Work that wouldn’t get done gets done.
“There was a Polish guy, Sigmund, working with us for a while and he was scrupulous. He was a very devout sort of a guy. Holy Week was an incredible week for him.
“He’d be fasting and praying and he obeyed everything. He used to create some Polish celebratory dishes around Easter – a special fish dish using carp and a special ham dish, shinka. He had to have a certain type of brown sugar and a certain amount of pepper. He also made a special black pudding, kashanka. The quality of the produce was fantastic, he derived fantastic flavours from simple food. He was very popular with the Polish.”
The Fishmonger
Kay O’Connell Fish Merchants was established in Cork’s English Market in 1962. Today, sons Pat and Paul, together with their families, run the business.
“Customers come and go on Ash Wednesday, it’s busier than normal but it’s not the same as Holy Thursday or Good Friday. We stock about 50% more fish on Good Friday,” says Paul
“The Polish really keep it as well. They’re into it more than us. With Irish people, it’s mostly the older generation that are keeping up the tradition, but it’s younger with the Polish.
“Trends have totally changed. We have a lot more fish compared to 15 or 20 years ago. We have approximately 60 varieties today alone. Years ago we generally stocked whiting, haddock, cod, plaice, lemon sole and mackerel, but Irish people have become adventurous. It’s a very small world now. People are travelling and will say: ‘We had dorade in Spain.’ Sea bass was not popular 10 years ago. Now customers are buying halibut, bass, bream, swordfish and tuna.”
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