Ashes, ashes, we all fall down

In the Christian year, this is the first day of Lent. The beginning of the 40 days before Easter when Christians reflect on their humanity, their fallen and broken nature, the nature that is ultimately redeemed by Jesus. Ash Wednesday is appropriately preceeded by Fat Tuesday (also known as Shrove Tuesday) - the day of excess celebrated most vividly in Latin cultures via Mardi Gras. Northern Europeans celebrate Fat Tuesday with the Pancake Supper!

Where can you find information about Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Lent, Easter, etc? I did a Google search on each topic and found many a site willing to share. Some sites had a clear 'authority' - the Vatican for example. Yet, I wanted something I could cite without digging through the About Us to find the author.

GALILEO offers cite-able sources- Ebsco's Religion and Philosophy "includes more than 300 full-text journals covering topics such as world religions, major denominations, biblical studies, religious history, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of language, moral philosophy, and the history of philosophy."

I'm looking for facts about Lent, etc - Encyclopedia Brittanica or Credo Reference offer access to 'facts'. Yes, yes, I know about Wikipedia but even they note " anyone can edit it". Credo and Britannica offer me credible, vetted information (yes, I've read the Nature article showing Britannica had almost as many errors as Wikipedia and the refutation).

Easy is not always the surest route to the best information.....Lent offers a time to reflect on what 'easy' gets us....get the password to use GALILEO from your Georgia librarian.

-kls

How do I find thee?

Thank you Jeff Mallett, creator of Frazz.


22 Feb 2009

I smiled. Yes, print is one way to find the information.


-kls