The days between the end of the Mardi Gras festival and the holiday of Easter is known to all Christians as Lent or the Lenten period.  It represents the period of Jesus' persecution, suffering and death before he arose and ascended to join God on Easter Day.  Many Christians choose to abstain from certain comforts or pleasures during Lent in honor of Jesus' self sacrifice.  Some desist from drinking alcoholic beverages, from eating chocolate or from participating in festivities during Lent.  In older days, the Catholic Church forbade its members from eating any meats except for fish on Fridays, and especially on Fridays during Lent. 

Most Catholics over the age of forty or fifty still remember the old prohibition when their parents cooked spaghetti, macaroni or fish every Friday.  They even used to refer to Friday as "fish day" because of this church rule.  That rule was rescinded many years ago, but old customs persist for a long time.  Today, many of the older Catholics, and even some Protestant Christians still eat no meat except fish on all Fridays during lent. 

Many of the local Catholic Churches in the USA have supprted this custom by instituting the "Friday Fish Fry" throughout Lent.  Volunteers from the local church usually gather to prepare vast quatities of fried fish, baked macaroni, cole slaw salad and home baked cakes and pies.  They convert their church social hall into a restaurant and offer succulent "fish dinners" and "fish sandwiches" to the public.  Everyone from the local community, whether they are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Atheist, come to purchase a succulent Friday Fish Dinner. The proceeds of the sale help to fund the church's social activities.

This custom has become so popular in parts of the USA that it has spread from the Catholic Churches to many Protestant Churches and to local volunteer fire halls.  They all offer "Lenten Fish Dinners" or "Friday Fish Fries".  If you are visiting the USA during the Lenten period in early spring, and you see a sign in front of a church or a local firehall that says "Fish Fry",  stop and try it!  You will get a wonderful fish dinner for a very reasonable price.

After Easter when the Lenten period ends, the fish fries will all disappear.  Then, the local churches and firehalls will resort to their other fund raising activity, and you will see signs for "Bingo" in front of those places.  Bingo is a game of chance.  It is a type of gambling favored especially by older ladies.  They gather at the local church social hall or fire hall and pay a few dollars to play bingo.  If they are lucky, they can win free groceries, small appliances, gift items or even some cash. Many church repairs and even some new community fire trucks have been purchased with the proceeds from these bingo games.

Now, gambling is illegal in most states, and bingo is definitely a form of gambling.  Fortunately, the local police never seem to notice that gambling is occurring at these bingo games at the local church or the local fire hall.