Good Friday

Good Friday-2014.   Good Friday is a day that never seems to have the proper celebration or remembrance in my mind.  Often the day in the US was just another work day.  It seems like one should be going to church on such an occasion.  Indeed, most catholic services on this day are held early or mid afternoon.  This makes it hard to attend for working people unless they asked for the day off in advance.  I knew of such a person in my former work setting and always admired her thoughtfulness.   The other strange thing in the US is that even though Good Friday is not a holiday in any sense since it is strictly of religious importance, many businesses close at noon.  Others remain open with the sense that everyone else has gone home, so why are we still sitting here. 

This year in Moldova I woke on Good Friday to a very bright sunny day.  It turned out to be an excellent Spring day with temperatures up in the 60’s.  I was not sure what to expect for breakfast as I was told that on Good Friday or Black Friday as it is called in Romanian there is no eating.  My religious tradition calls for fasting and abstinence on this day.  People my age are given a little leeway if needed.  To me that means no meat, and eat less than normal amount of food, and no eating between meals.  So I was surprised to find out that I had my usual hot cereal with raisins and coffee for breakfast.  To tell you the truth, I was a little hungry as I had skipped supper last night in order to go to the Holy Thursday Mass in Orhei.  Breaksfast and off to work I went.

When I arrived at work, most of the coworkers were sitting around the meeting table enjoying some friendly conversation.  Our one customer, client, benefactor  was a ten year old boy who has some type of down’s syndrome and is limited in his mental capacity.  He was patiently listening to the banter of the adults.  I think that he finds it entertaining to do that at times.  But soon he was in my office asking me to go outside and play ball.  That means kick the soccer ball around.  It’s 8:30 on a beautiful morning, why not? 

Soon another coworker arrives with a lot of fresh apples for eating.  My fellow soccer player is interested in that.  In we go and he takes one to eat as we play.  Outside we go again.  After eating one apple, he thinks a second would be good too.  Inside we go, and I am offered an apple myself.  Why not?  Apples are good for you, even during Post (Fasting).  I think of how hungry this poor little boy must be and how irresistible these apples are for him.  We go back out to play.  Soon he is bored with my banter and wants to invite the young woman social worker out to play with us.  In the meantime, I am counting my blessings to be outside in the warm sunshine on a beautiful Spring day.

The young boy was successful in coaxing the social worker outside.  Who wouldn’t want to come out, the center building inside was cold as heat has been off for several weeks now and the weather has not been consistently warm.  Not only her, but other coworkers come out along with a 2 year old toddler who is son of the medical assistant and comes to work with her regularly.  The women all stand together and enjoy their conversation occasionally kicking a ball that comes their way.  The 2 year old tries to interact but is mostly interested in a wheel chair that has arrived with a handicapped woman who came in this morning for a shower.  One of the coworkers now presents a bag of white chocolate candies and shares it all around.  It’s almost like eating pure sugar.  Can we include this as proper fasting for Black Friday?  My head is spinning from all the sugar and I try to escape this scene by sneaking back into the building. 

My soccer friend follows me back into the building and badgers me to come out and play ball.  I make excuses that I have to work on English lessons (play solitaire) or check my computer (emails).  My partner-boss Sergiu tells the lad that Domnul Oren (that’s me) is tired.  None of this avails and of course I return to the outdoors to kick the ball back and forth.  I try to connect this experience with the obvious importance of the Good Friday day.

The morning is soon gone and it is noon.  I can remember as a young boy attending catholic school that we were encouraged to keep quiet and not do anything “playful” during the hours of 12-3 as those were the hours Jesus hung on the cross.  Usually my work partner and I go to our house for a lunch break on work days between 12 and 1.   Noon came and Segiu didn’t seem like he was going home.  Instead he was outside planting flower seeds.  I thought to myself that “there is no lunch today, it’s Black Friday.”   Eventually he said to me, why don’t you go home now, it’s past twelve.  So I assumed that he was choosing to not eat, but the American guest was going to be fed lunch.  So I headed for the house, a fifteen minute walk.  The weather was beautiful and I said a little prayer on the way for the gift of such a lovely Spring day.  Even the dandelions were beautiful.

I arrived at the house and Iulia was outside hanging some table clothes and things on the line after washing them.  She saw me and said “What’s up?  Work over for today?”   I just said Segiu told me to come home.  (I wan’t sure if there was lunch coming or not.)   Some neighbors were over to borrow the portable clothes closet from our house.  I had some things in it, so I quickly removed them to my room and away they took the piece of furniture.  They must be expecting a lot of company for Easter.  Then Iulia asked me if I was hungry, and I said a little.  So she served me a bowl of bean soup and some good home made bread.  I said I didn’t think Sergiu was coming home for lunch and I would be going back as usual after lunch for the afternoon.  Next thing I know, Sergiu joins me at the table and he is dressed in his at home casual clothes.  He was having lunch too (?)  and work was over for today. 

I had left my laptop at work as I was expecting to have a normal Black Friday afternoon at work.  So after lunch I had to walk back to work and see if I could catch the “pascnic”  or caretaker to let me in to get my computer.  Luckily when I got there, I saw Anatole and he let me in to get my computer.  He was just getting set for his all night vigil at the center.   He didn’t know that he was starting at 1 today either, but thought that his normal 5 o’clock shift was the rule.  I asked how his tomatoes were growing as I remember him showing me his green house last year.  He said they were off to a good start and he asked if I might like a little wine before I went back home. (This is normal Moldovan hospitality) I said “de sigur”  or certainly,  after all it was Good Friday.  We took a quick walk to his house nearby and downed a few shots of white house wine and ate some fresh radishes from the garden and snacked a bit on Easter bun cake.  All in the spirit of “Paste”  or Easter.

Well I am looking forward to the rest of my Black Friday and Easter weekend.  We get the Monday after Easter off as well.   I am hoping that it will be a pleasant time of visitors and family enjoying each other’s company and good Moldovan food and hospitality.   Whatever “Post”  (fasting) means in Orthodox circles, I’m not sure;  I know that the spirit is willing but sometimes it gets distracted.