Day 221: 8/9/13- Dormation Fast

Day 221: 8/9/13- Dormation Fast 
New Thing- Dormation Fast 
Inspiration: Mary, Orthodoxy 
Time: All Day
Bottom Line: Fast

The Dormation of the BVM

Reflection: During the first part  of August, the Orthodox keep a holy fast in honor of  Mary. It is called the Dormation Fast and here is the wiki explanation of why:

The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches which commemorates the "falling asleep" or death of Mary, the mother of Jesus (literally translated as God-bearer), and her bodily resurrection before being taken up into heaven. It is celebrated on August 15 (August 28, N.S. for those following the Julian Calendar) as the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God.

The Feast of the Dormition is preceded by a two-week fast, referred to as the Dormition Fast. From August 1 to August 14 (inclusive) Orthodox and Eastern Catholics fast from red meat, poultry, meat products, dairy products (eggs and milk products), fish, oil, and wine. The Dormition Fast is a stricter fast than either the Nativity Fast (Advent) or the Apostles' Fast, with only wine and oil (but no fish) allowed on weekends. As with the other Fasts of the Church year, there is a Great Feast that falls during the Fast; in this case, the Transfiguration (August 6), on which fish, wine and oil are allowed.

Now, I know that I am late in starting this fast, and I am not planing on keeping it for the full two weeks (I am, in fact, planning a longer fast later on in the month) but I will be keeping this partial fast today. Fasting has become a very important part of my spiritual life in the last 5 years (look for me to say more about that in later posts) and it will be my intuition to have 4 prolonged fasting periods a year in the the future. I am doing about 3 now. But it seemed fitting to mark today as an intentional Marian fast day since another one of my "summer or Mary goals" was to start fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays as days of holy obligation. I have not really kept that as I would have liked this summer, so today will be the beginning of marking that devotion to God in earnest. Again, look for more detail on fasting as a spiritual practice in past to come.