Ember Days –

Times for quiet reflection and for solace the so called “ember days” were observed as days of fast and abstinence four times each year….

.”Fasting days and Emberings be, Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie.” 

Thus being kept between the first and second Sundays of lent; the week between Pentecost and trinity; the week after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (holyrood) ; and the week of the feast of St Lucy – usually  falls in between the second and third Sundays of Advent. In eastern rite Wednesday and Fridays were usually observed by full fast and abstinence. in the western rite that became consolidated into the weekly abstinence of Friday – fish on Fridays. The fast lasted on in monastic communities and amongst the friars. somehow these all got lost in the New Order of Paul VI although they were not specifically abolished.