Looking Forward...Rejoice!

While this Sunday is only the second Sunday in Lent, I find myself looking *foward* and thinking about Lent's fourth Sunday which is historically known as "Laetare Sunday" with the Latin word Laetare meaning "Rejoice". Rejoicing in Lent? Seem like a contradiction? Aren't we supposed to save the rejoicing and celebrating until Easter? Ahhhh.....not so! While some churches who use "alleluia" as part of their regular Sunday liturgical content but elect to omit it throughout Lent, actually, EVERY Sunday in Lent and always is a time for rejoicing. Every Sunday, regardless of the church season, we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. When you think about it, Lent is the key to the mother of all celebrations...without Lent there is no cause for "rejoicing", there is no Easter. There is no resurrection without a crucifixion. Right? Just as Advent, the *purple* season before Christmas is considered a small fast with the third Sunday being rose colored and called Gaudate Sunday (another word for "rejoice") where we're on the countdown to Christmas and thinking about Jesus' mother who'd be getting ready herself for the birth. Just as typically Gaudate Sunday in Advent the "fast" is lifted for a brief break, so also is the same true for Laetare Sunday in Lent. It's as though the combination of dark winter whose moanings and groanings for Spring echo those of our own hearts, combined with whichever fasts or tasks for spiritual growth we've taken on for Lent together make us feel like we'd REALLY like a break, along comes the British tradition of the Simnel Cake. Ever heard of it? Oh my goodness it's amazing. Do you like marzipan (almond paste) and dried, candied fruits? Read on! The custom of the Simnel cake comes from medievel England when the 4th Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday, was also called "Mothering Sunday" as on that day, servants who resided far from their families were given the day off to go back to their own homes and visit with their mothers. They were also able to make a cake of fine semolina flour (hence the shortened version of the word "Simnel") and fruits to bring with them and honor their mothers. The cake itself is rich in Lenten meaning, including the top being covered with 11 carefully rolled little balls of marzipan to represent the 11 disciples who remained faithful to Jesus (leaving out Judas who betrayed him). There are tons of other symbolic meanings to other parts of the cake, but I want to move on and leave room for the recipe for you! For those of you thinking "ick....sounds like just another fruit cake", oh ye of small belief! Oh no indeed. This is rich, wonderful, heavenly food. And, if there are fruits in the recipe you don't enjoy, well, just omit them! It's a very forgiving recipe --- which is fitting for Lent, don't you think? :-)While I have a whole book of Simnel cake recipes, I searched for one that's not too complex and with American measurements instead of things being weighed out in grams as in older English recipes (and other European ones as well). Below is a recipe for Simnel cake:

Simnel Cake

1 cup margarine, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
4 eggs
1 3/4 cups self-rising flour
1 1/3 cups golden raisins
1 cup dried currants
2/3 cup candied cherries, rinsed, dried and quartered
1/4 cup candied mixed fruit peel, chopped
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 pound almond paste
2 tablespoons apricot jam
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8 inch springform pan. Line the bottom and sides of pan with greased parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the flour. Stir in the golden raisins, currants, candied cherries, mixed fruit, lemon zest and mixed spice. Pour 1/2 of batter into prepared pan.

Divide almond paste into 3 equal portions. Roll out 1/3 of the almond paste to an 8 inch circle. Place the circle of almond paste on the cake batter in pan. Cover with remaining cake batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 hours, or until evenly brown and firm to the touch. If the cake is browning too quickly, cover with foil after an hour of baking. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Set oven to broil. When the cake has cooled, brush the top with warmed apricot jam. Roll out 1/3 of the almond paste into an 8 inch circle and place on top of cake.

Divide the remaining 1/3 of almond paste into 11 pieces and roll into balls. These represent the 12 Apostles minus Judas. Brush the almond paste on top of cake with beaten egg. Arrange the 11 balls around the outside edge on the top of cake. Brush the balls lightly with egg. Place cake under the broiler for 8 to 10 minutes, or until almond paste is golden brown.

Making this cake is a fun activity to do together with children, or a peaceful one to do meditatively by yourself. Sometimes Simnel Cake is also referred to as Easter Cake for those who prefer to save this rich treat until Easter. For those of you who read through the recipe thinking, "something about this feels a little familiar" but have never heard of or had such a cake, just think about "Hot Cross Buns". Wonderful little mini-cakes filled with dried, candied fruit and marked with a cross of frosting (plain vanilla, not luscious almond marzipan, but yummy none-the-less). See the connection? The first Simnel cakes were yeast cakes like the kind of dough used in Hot Cross Buns. My husband and I look forward to enjoying a Hot Cross Bun treat for breakfast each Sunday through Lent, as a tiny break from our typical fasting from desserts and sweet treats.

Perhaps because we're looking at yet more wintery weather and it's a gray Currier and Ives day outside but my heart is yearning for spring to come, I've been remembering a beautiful setting of part of the Walt Whitman poem "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" by Robert Sanders. For the musically adept, this is quite different from the Paul Hindeminth much larger arrangement of the entire poem for chorus and orchestra. This is simple, elegant but profound setting for accapella chorus. I have looked all over the Internet for a recording but, alas, have found none except the Hindemith setting. While Walt Whitman wrote the poem in remembrance of the death of Abraham Lincoln, it's something which resonates with us all. Years ago I sang this with an amazing accapella group and it has always stayed with me, engraved on my heart. So, while I cannot share a link to a recording of the Sanders arrangement, below is the segment of the poem (the first section of the entire poem) by Walt Whitman. Think about it as you're making your Simnel cake and again while you're enjoying it...unless you make the supreme sacrifice of giving it to someone you love to honor them on "Mothering Sunday", Laetare Sunday, to help them rejoice in proper, amazing, delightful style.

When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d,
And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,
I mourn’d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love.

The words from which "Laetare Sunday" are derived are:

Rejoice, [Laetare] O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation. (Psalm) I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.

Even if you elect to keep your fast without Sunday breaks, even on the 4th Sunday, don't postpone your rejoicing until Easter! Looking forward...."come Lord, Jesus, come". Alleluia!