Fasting.

I remember the first time I was told I will be fasting; I was 13 years old. I was a fragile, thin, anaemic, child, I ate little, if I missed a meal or was late for a meal, I knew about it, I was often dizzy, slept little, I worried about everything. I grew up on Complan, which I hated, Minadex and Virol, the latter, which I loved and still have to this day. I was so anaemic when I was 16 years old and went to the Doctors with my Mum the Doctor said, to me, “Every day you must have one Guinness,” Because I couldn’t swallow iron tablets, they were just too big.  

I gave my Life to God age 13, and this was all very new to me, I had read about it in the Bible, “Fasting and prayer,” I’ve always known what it meant, going without food, and having only water.

There would be all of us who gave our lives to God, 11 of us in total, in varying ages from 11 to 14. The fasting service would be at my Auntie’s home, it would end at noon.

Foolishly I sat by the clock, near to the open fire. I kept looking at the clock over the mantlepiece, it didn’t seem to move. My lovely Auntie, spoke to us all, and congratulated us, and explained about, “Prayer and fasting and how important it is.” We sang hymns and read from the Bible. I actually thought I was going to die! I’ve never felt so hungry in all of my young life. I felt sick, weak, light headed, frightened. Looking at my other friends, who I knew all very well, some were siblings, cousins, friends and others, we went to the same school, they all seemed to be coping well. They didn’t seem to show any signs of the torture, that I was feeling inside. We were not allowed a drink, which added to my woe.

Finally, there was a final hymn and a final closing prayer, we were then told, “You can now go and have a hot drink,” I was too weak to stand, but I slowly did and went to the kitchen and had a lovely cupper, I put lots of sugar in.

We all lived locally, near each other, I enjoyed at home my Lunch! I didn’t plan to ever fast again.

Over the years, I did fast again, but at a different Church from the very strict one that I was brought up in, was much better. Depending on the person, there was such things as a partial fast, where, it was for a certain amount of set time that the individual chose to do, like breaking their fast at noon, and then starting again the following day, and doing that for their own person set of time, like for one week. Or for some, they would break their fast at Tea time, and do that for two or three days. I remember my lovely Mummy, making pizza, it was so nice, after I’d eaten it, I went in the bin to look for the box that it came in, Mum asked, “What are you doing?” I said, “I’m looking for the pizza box,” Mum replied, “I made it.” I then asked her, “How come you didn’t eat any?” She then told me, “I’m fasting.” As God is my Judge, I would not make such a nice meal if I was a Mum and fasting!      

Basically, when a Person was sad and wanted answers, for difficult situations that arose in their life or for someone close to them, they fasted so their minds were, focused on God, it was always best to have time off work, where possible, but in real life that wasn’t always the case.

When I was an adult, I chose to fast. Sometimes the Church would ask us all to fast, and sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t. It’s hard to fast, when your heart isn’t in it. But we are asked to “Weep with those who weep.” And that’s a good thing.

When I was fasting at work, I would bring a large carton of yoghurt to work, I remember around the same time that I ate the yoghurt, a few of us loved the peach melba one and we ate it at Lunch time, and I had my trusted little flask. That was light enough for me to keep body and soul together and no one knew I was fasting. We are told, “Not to let anyone know when you are fasting, you are to look your best.” Paraphrased. For some people, let all know that they are fasting, by looking a mess and holding their tummy that people will feel sorry for them. “That is all the reward they will get.” Paraphrased. Their prayers will go unanswered.

I’ve fasted when I’ve been in ill health, and when I wanted comfort about my future. I haven’t fasted for years. But if I have invited a friend to Church in the morning, sometimes, I don’t eat until I get back home, to keep me ‘sharp,’ ‘focused,’ but it’s not hard, as most of the time, I don’t have breakfast, until I get back at Lunchtime anyway, as no time.

This week, and last week, I’ve been working with a lovely person, who is fasting for ……. 30 days! I’d heard about it roughly over the years, since my kids have been at school, as they have mentioned this other religion, which was all new to me. Having been born and bred in this country I only ever went to Church of England schools, for Religious Education, we studied the Bible only, in assemblies we sang hymns, from a hymn book, it made no difference what language was spoken at home. The only children who didn’t go into assembly was the, Jehovah’s Witness.   

From last week, I’ve been enlightened, as a co-worker, Ahsan is fasting, during the course of our conversations, she has told me, “I finish my fast each night at 8.30pm and start it again, at 04.00am, I eat and drink during that time, and go to bed at 04.00am.” She went on, “After 04.00am I go to bed,” I asked, “What time do you wake up?” She replied, usually around noon.” I asked Ahsan, “But what happens to those who start work at 08.00am, wouldn’t they be tired?” She answered, “I don’t know what they do.”

On some of the times I’ve worked with her while she has been fasting, I’ve asked, “Are you hungry?” A few times her reply was, “I’m just thirsty,” I asked, “Aren’t you allowed to drink water?” She said, “No.” When I knew that, I hid my large bottle of Tango that I had on my desk, I didn’t want her to focus or look at it and feel worse, and when I was going to eat, I either waited until she had gone home or ate my meal in another office.

She is such a lovely person, graceful and very kind. She always looks amazing, beautiful hair and make-up.

When the fast first started, she was on her period so she didn’t need to do the fast, and she told me, “Those who are diabetic, pregnant or sick don’t need to fast.” I thought that was good. I asked, “Does everybody fast, if they are not sick, pregnant, on their period or diabetic?” She replied, “If they want to fast for 15 days instead of the full 30 days, they pay £50 if they don’t want to fast they pay £100,” I asked, “Is that a fixed price or can they pay less than the £50 and less than the £100,” She said, “They can pay less.” I replied, “OK.” Ahsan then said, “The money given for not doing the fast is then given to the hungry or to orphans.” I said, “That’s nice,” And added, “Every time I would be very happy to pay the £100.” We both laughed at that, in fact, even if it was higher, I’d still pay it to get out of it. Sometimes she’d be tired at work, I felt sorry for her then, I didn’t want her to be hungry or thirsty, she usually drinks lots of bottled water when she is at work, which puts me to shame.

I asked, “When you have your meal at 8.30pm do you eat again before you go to bed a 04.00?” She said, “Around 02.00am I have something light like cereal or toast, but some people have another full meal.” I followed up with, “So you only have 1 and a half meals each 24 hours?” She said, “Yes.”

She informed me, “On the 21st next Thursday, the fast ends, then we will have a nice meal,” I asked, “Will there be a big party?” Her reply was, “Not this year, it will be just us in our close family, there will be fireworks too,” I thought if I’d survived 30 days fast, I’d want to let off fireworks too!!! Phew! I mentioned three different names what the fast and the day after the fast was called, and I was correct with the names, I was pleased with myself.

I asked Ahsan, “What age does children start to fast?” Ahsan replied, “Age 12,” And then said, “I know a boy who is 11 years old and he told his Mum, “I want to do the fast,” His Mum said to him, “Are you sure?” He replied, “Yes.” Ahsan added, “My Mum started to fast age 8.” I would have died!

I told my Daughter Meghan about Ahsan fasting, and she said, “When I was at school, twice the Teachers had to send two children home as they looked so ill,” I asked her, “Did the Teachers know they were fasting?” She said, “Yes.”

Years ago, my Husband Paul, worked nights with Men who would be fasting. He said, “Some would, ask others to change shifts with them, so they could either work days or have the nights off, some would swop, most wouldn’t, I always helped and where possible did the heavier work.” Paul added, “After the 30 days fast, they would bring in wonderful food, and would always share it with me, it was 10 times better than in the restaurants.”

I have learnt a lot in this last two weeks, and have more respect now, for those who do the fast. Some Doctors think that the occasional fast is healthy, I beg to differ.