The period is a mirror of the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, fasting, praying, and being tempted by Satan before he started his public ministry. In English, Lent got its name from the Old English word len(c)ten, which means “spring season.” ![]() ![]() ![]() (Following Easter is a 50-day period called Pentecost, and then a season called “Ordinary Time,” which lasts until Advent begins around the end of November.)Īs Advent is the season of anticipation leading up to the great feast day of Christmas, Lent is the season that precedes the greatest feast day: Easter, which marks the day when Christians celebrate Jesus’s resurrection and triumph over death. During that time, readings in traditional churches revisit stories from the gospels that focus on those events in Jesus’s life. The easiest way to understand the church calendar is as a sort of live immersive theater, designed to reenact the life of Jesus every year from Christmas (birth) to Easter (resurrection). Lent is the greatest and most solemn period of fasting on the Christian church’s calendar, leading up to the celebration of Christianity’s greatest feast day: Easter. And, increasingly, even nonreligious people are picking up the ritual. Still, there are some rules and guidelines that mark the observance of Lent for Christians who observe the season. ![]() But like most practices rooted in Christianity, the way people observe Lent, or whether they observe it at all, varies wildly depending on their heritage, specific religious tradition, and preferences. Many folks are generally aware that it’s a religious observance that happens every spring and somehow involves people getting ashes smeared on their forehead and/or giving up chocolate or booze or Facebook until Easter. And six other questions you were too embarrassed to ask.
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