Cheese Fair Sunday is the last day the Orthodox are supposed to eat milk, milk products and eggs. The Sunday before that is Meat Fair Sunday when the Orthodox are again supposed to clean the house of meat from vertebrates.

Of course, not everyone can or should keep to the strict guidelines for fasting. And the emphasis is that fasting is not means of gaining favor with God but a discipline to prepare yourself for God's work within you.

Something else I bet you didn't know: we also have an Advent fast, from November 15th to December 24th. In America, this is interrupted by the Thursday Feast of Thanksgiving and the Friday Feast of leftovers.