This week marks the beginning of one of the most important parts of the traditional Christian liturgical calendar, the 40-day period of Lent, which leads to Easter Sunday.
Lent marks the 40 days in which observant believers traditionally give up certain luxuries as well as practice periods of fasting, prayer and daily devotionals or meditations.
The period is reflective of the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness in fasting and prayer in preparation for his ministry, as told in the Christian gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.
No one knows for certain when the practice of Lent began. Its earliest historical record came from the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., but that may have been an affirmation of earlier practices that the early church recognized at that time.
Lent is recognized and practiced in the Catholic and Orthodox churches as well as several Protestant denominations, including the Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians.
Each church has its own particular set of traditions regarding the Lent period itself (there are many ways to calculate 40 days), fasting periods and foods to abstain from, times of prayer and devotion, and other individual practices.
Probably the best-known tradition in the U.S. associated with the Lenten season is Mardi Gras, which is French for “Fat Tuesday,” also known as “Shrove Tuesday.”
Made famous in New Orleans for its extravagant celebrations, Shrove Tuesday is meant as the practitioner’s last chance to indulge in food or drink that one will subsequently give up during the Lent season.
Many churches observe Shrove Tuesday with a less flamboyant but still indulgent practice of holding pancake breakfasts on the last day before Lent. The pancake tradition dates back to the 16th Century in England, but shrovetide festivals began hundreds of years earlier during the Middle Ages.
The first day of Lent is Ash Wednesday. It marks the first day of Lenten fasting and prayer. The “ash” reference comes from the tradition of placing ashes of repentance on the foreheads of believers.
The ashes are prepared by burning the palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday observances.
Orthodox priest John W. Fenton writes, “By the end of the 10th century, it was customary in Western Europe (but not yet in Rome) for all the faithful to receive ashes on the first day of the Lenten fast.”
This year’s Lenten season ends just before Easter, which falls on April 4, 2021.