Fasting

Fasting is the act of willingly abstaining from food and in some cases water, or in other cases from certain food groups.

Fasting for medical or spiritual reasons has been known for ages. It is mentioned in the Mahabharat, in the Upanishads, and in the Bible (in both the Old and New Testament).

In Hinduism, a religious fast is observed on ekadasi (the eleventh day of each lunar fortnight) and, if observed strictly, involves taking no food or water from the previous day's sunset until 48 minutes after the following day's sunrise.

In Islam, sunrise-to-sunset fasting is observed during the month of Ramadan.

For Roman Catholics, fasting refers to those days set aside by the church when the faithful must reduce their intake of food to one full meal (which may contain meat) and two small meals (known liturgically as collations, taken in the morning and the evening) as distinct from abstinence which was the complete avoidance of meat on Fridays, especially during Lent. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are still days of fasting and abstinence, as specified in the Code of Canon Law (cc. 1250 to 1253). On these two solemn days Roman Catholics are enjoined to both fast (reduce the size of their daily meals) and to abstain (to completely avoid the consumption of meat in those meals). Until the Second Vatican Council Ash Wednesday and all the subsequent Fridays and Saturdays of Lent were days of "Fasting and Abstinence" whereas all the other weekdays of Lent were days of "Fasting without Abstinence". An exception to this rule was granted to the Bishops of Ireland (see Irish calendar) by the Vatican in 1918, when the obligation of fasting and abstaining on the Lenten Saturdays was transferred to the Wednesdays of Lent instead.

For Orthodox Christians, fasting at various times refers to abstention from animal products, olive oil (or all oils, according to some Orthodox traditions), wine and spirits &mdash see Eastern Orthodoxy (Fasting).

Fasting for health reasons typically lasts a week or longer and includes some food intake, such as fruit or vegetable juices.

The political fast (today more commonly known as the hunger strike) seems to be an invention of Mohandas Gandhi. Some people see a difference between a hunger strike, a pure political act, and fasting, a political and religious act. By fasting, they intend to take some of the responsibility of the problem in question.

Hunger strikes have been used by personalities all over the world, including Martin Luther King Jr and Lanza del Vasto (during the Algerian War, Vatican II and the struggle of the farmers of the Larzac plateau).

Today, hunger strikes are often used by refugees seeking political asylum.