FASTING 



FATA MORGANA 



Fasting ( A. S. faestan, to hold fast, 

 observe). Total or partial absten- 

 tion from all or special kinds of food 

 and drink/ Such abstinence has 

 been practised for religious or other 

 reasons by people of all nations from 

 early times. It has formed part of 

 both pagan and Christian asceticism 

 (q.v.), in a religious sense being en- 

 joined or commended together with 

 prayer and almsgiving, and regarded 

 as a method of self -discipline which, 

 controlling the animal appetites, en- 

 ables the mind more clearly to appre- 

 hend and appreciate spiritual truths. 



The Mosaic law prescribed one 

 great fast day in the year, the 

 Day of Atonement or 10th day 

 of the 7th month (Lev. 16) ; 

 others were added in commemora- 

 tion of events connected with the 

 captivity (Zech. 8) ; and in the 

 O.T. many instances are recorded 

 of individual and communal fast- 

 ing. The king of Nineveh, when 

 Jonah prophesied its fall, pro- 

 claimed a general fast, and the 

 city was spared (Jonah 3). In the 

 N.T. J.BSUS Christ is represented 

 not as enjoining His disciples to 

 fast, but as teaching that, when- 

 ever fasting was undertaken, it 

 was to be without ostentation and 

 with purity of intention (Matt. 6). 

 At the same time He indicated that 

 it would be a duty after His depar- 

 ture (Matt. 9 ; homily On Fast- 

 ing li) ; and said of certain demons 

 (Mark 9, A.V.): This kind can 

 come forth by nothing but by 

 prayer and fasting (R.V. omits 

 " and fasting "). Fasting was re- 

 commended and practised by the 

 apostles (Acts 13, 14 ; 2 Cor. 6, 11). 

 In the early Church fasts were kept 

 on Wednesdays and Fridays, and 

 during Lent. 



Unlike the Roman Catholic 

 Church, the Church of England 

 makes no distinction between fast- 

 ing and abstinence (q.v.). In the 

 homily On Fasting, the custom is 

 said to be of itself a thing merely 

 indifferent. It is regarded not as a 

 means of grace but as a prepara- 

 tion for the means of grace, and is 

 voluntary, and the rule, obligatory 

 among Roman Catholics, as to 

 partaking of the Holy Communion 

 fasting, is observed only among 

 High Church Anglicans. The pro- 

 clamation of 1548 for the abstain- 

 ing from flesh in Lent time (2 and 

 3 Edward VI, c. 19) was issued for 

 political and economic reasons. At 

 the same time, the Book of Com- 

 mon Prayer enumerates as days of 

 fasting or abstinence the 40 days 

 of Lent, Ember days, Rogation 

 days, all Fridays except Christmas 

 Day, and the evens or vigils of 

 certain festivals where these festi- 

 vals do not fall on a Monday, 

 Sunday never being a fast day. 



The manner of fasting or abstin- 

 ence is left to the individual. 

 - In the Roman Catholic Church 

 all baptized persons who have com- 

 pleted their 21st year are bound to 

 observe the days of fasting, on 

 which they may not eat more than 

 one full meal, this meal to be with- 

 out flesh meat, and to be eaten 

 after mid-day. The days of fasting 

 are all Lent, ex- r ,, ,..,,,, ; .,.,,,, 

 cept Sundays, the | 

 Ember days, 

 vigils of the more 

 solemn feasts, all 

 Fridays except 

 those falling 

 within 12 days of 

 Christmas, and 

 between Easter 

 and the Ascen- I 

 sion. Fasting is 

 exceptionally 

 strict in the | 

 Eastern Church, 

 in which 226 days 

 are set apart for it 

 in the year ; it is 

 an important re- 

 ligious duty 

 among the 

 Hindus ; and 

 among Mahome- 

 dans, who regard the practice as 

 mitigating the penalties of sin, the 

 month of Ramadan (q.v.) is a 

 period in which fasting is obliga- 

 tory. In ancient Greece rigid fasts 

 preceded the solemnities of the 

 Eleusinian mysteries ; and in Rome 

 every fifth year a general fast was 

 held in honour of Ceres. 



From a physiological or medical 

 point of view, abstention from food 

 leads to the tissues of the body 

 being consumed in order to main- 

 tain the output of heat and energy. 

 Hence, progressive emaciation oc- 

 curs, absorption of the fat in the 

 tissues being well marked. The face 

 becomes pale, the cheeks sunken, 

 and the eyes hollow. The abdomen 

 sinks in and the bones become 

 prominent. The temperature is 

 often subnormal. 



Towards the end, mental symp- 

 toms may appear and hallucina- 

 tions may be followed by coma 

 and death, the immediate cause of 

 which appears to be reduction of 

 the bodily temperature. The dura- 

 tion of life under such conditions 

 varies within wide limits. Instances 

 apparently well authenticated are 

 recorded of survival for upwards of 

 forty days. A notable case of 

 fasting was that of the lord mayor 

 of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, who 

 in 1920 fasted in Brixton prison, 

 dying, after abstaining from food 

 for 73 days, on Oct. 25, 1920. 

 After a fast the stomach is not in a 

 condition to exercise its functions 

 normally, and at first only very 



small quantities of liquid and easily 

 digested food should be given. See 

 Hunger Strike; Starvation. 



Fastnet, Rock off the S.W. 

 coast of co. Cork, Ireland. It has 

 a lighthouse showing a flashing 

 light visible for 18 m. 



Fat. Chief constituent of fatty 

 or adipose tissue, which is present 

 to a varying extent in nearly all 



Fastnet. The lighthouse as it was completed in 1907. 

 Ths old building on the rock has since been demolished 



parts of the body. Adipose tissue 

 consists of a foundation of connec- 

 tive tissue in the meshes of which 

 are the fat-cells containing an oily 

 material which is a mixture of 

 palmitin, stearin, and olein formed 

 by combination of fatty acids with 

 glycerol. Chemically, fat consists 

 of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, 

 and its function hi the animal 

 economy is to provide a reserve of 

 combustible material which is 

 drawn upon to maintain the heat 

 of the body. See Obesity. 



Fatalism (Lat. fatum, fate). 

 View that all the events of human 

 life are ordained beforehand by an 

 absolute necessity. Such was the 

 view of Epicurus and the Stoics, 

 and it is held by Mahomedans at 

 the present day. Fatalism differs 

 from determinism, according to 

 which events stand in a relation of 

 cause and effect to other events 

 immediately preceding, in that it 

 asserts that, no matter how much 

 the antecedent causes may be 

 varied, it will not affect the pre- 

 ordained result. See Free Will. 



Fata Morgana. Form of 

 mirage seen in the straits of Mes- 

 sina between Sicily and Calabria. 

 The name is due to the fact that it 

 was supposed to be the work of a 

 fata or fairy named Morgana. In 

 this type of mirage, which is seen 

 across calm water, inverted images 

 of ships, etc., are seen in the air 

 above the real objects. The term 

 is in general use to describe a 

 mirage (q.v.). 



