Muskrat vs. Fish...
An interesting tradition from south-eastern Michigan recorded in the Catholic News Service...
RIVERVIEW, Mich. (CNS) -- There's an alternative to fish for some Michigan Catholics abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent -- muskrat.
Speculation on how this came to be a practice involves there not being enough non-meat food for the early Catholic settlers of the area, and so muskrat, which could be trapped in winter, was allowed because it was the closest thing to fish available (since it was a water animal). Bishop Povish wrote; "anyone who could eat muskrat was doing penance worthy of the greatest of the saints."
Full story...
RIVERVIEW, Mich. (CNS) -- There's an alternative to fish for some Michigan Catholics abstaining from meat on Fridays in Lent -- muskrat.
Speculation on how this came to be a practice involves there not being enough non-meat food for the early Catholic settlers of the area, and so muskrat, which could be trapped in winter, was allowed because it was the closest thing to fish available (since it was a water animal). Bishop Povish wrote; "anyone who could eat muskrat was doing penance worthy of the greatest of the saints."
Full story...
posted by About the Author at
6:14 PM
3 Comments:
I went to High School in Riverview, Monday was Muskrat day!
gross...
did you actually eat it?
Hey!
If you were a Muskrat, would you eat yourself? I know I would! I'd smother myself in BBQ sauce . . . I'd be delicious!
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