If you’re uneasy about the rampant excess of the pre-Christmas season, consider re-introducing the ancient Tradition of St Martin’s Lent: 43 days of fasting, abstinence, and prayer prior to Christmas, similar to the 46 days of Lent prior to Easter. Standing in contrast to the excesses of the pre-Christmas season, St Martin’s Lent refocuses the season on spiritual development… and has the added bonus of shedding the Christmas binge-eating weight before it even happens!

The two biggest holy days in the Christian calendar are Easter and Christmas. Easter is preceded by Lent, which most of us are familiar with. Josh Hartnett even starred in a rom-com (kinda) about it. In the Western church in modern times, observing Lent means giving up, or abstaining, from something we enjoy (or maybe depend on a little bit) like sweets, alcohol, coffee, or that other thing that the movie above is kinda about. In more ancient times and in the Eastern church, the pre-Easter period involved giving up pretty much all of those things, as well as eating itself (fasting). In addition to abstinence and fasting, prayer and giving to charity (almsgiving) are two other touchstones of a complete Lenten observance. I personally have found that flexing the self-discipline muscle at Lent is invaluable to my spiritual development so why stop there? Why not introduce a similar observance during Advent?

St Martin’s day, or Martinmas, is the feast day of St Martin of Tours, and was the ancient “Mardi Gras” of the pre-Christmas season. On 11 November, Martinmas is 43 days prior to Christmas — roughly the same time period as Lent (46 days). St Martin was one of the most recognised Saints in the middle ages and his feast day was more appropriate as an introduction into the Advent season than say, St Andrew’s Day (30 November), which sometimes falls within Advent.

So in our family, we have one last big feast on Martinmas on 11 November, with Halloween candy, beer and wine, and then our diet, practices and mindset change until the Feast of the Nativity on 25 December. We reduce our meat intake to one or maybe two meals a week, cut out alcohol (for me) and sweets (for the kids) and beef (for everyone). I try to pray several times a day, and give up other vices like watching Netflix, using my phone too much, swearing, or complaining. We also try to donate clothes and toys and give to a new charity we otherwise wouldn’t have donated to.

There are few exceptions though: St Andrew’s Day is a big deal at home, with scotch eggs, haggis, beef and maybe a drop of whiskey; and Gaudete Sunday (the third Sunday of Advent) features beef and wine, similar to Laetare Sunday during Lent. Of course, there are certain traditions we save until Advent, like Christmas decorations, books, movies, and music, but getting a head start on the spiritual observance of the season couldn’t hurt, could it? That reminds me, I need to stock up on club soda …