Lent

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The longer version

What it means

Lent is the season of preparation for Easter: forty days (not counting Sundays) beginning on Ash Wednesday, modeled on Jesus' forty days of fasting in the wilderness. Its purposes are repentance, self-examination, and drawing near to God, expressed through the three classic practices — prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor. In practice, most people know Lent by the fast: giving up something (sweets, alcohol, social media, meat) for the duration, and, for Catholics, no meat on Fridays.

Lent is somber by design. Churches drop the "Alleluia," use purple, and hold extra services. It ends with Holy Week and breaks open at Easter.

Why people say it

Christians who keep Lent say Easter means more after forty days of preparation — you can't appreciate the feast without the fast. Giving something up exposes attachments, makes room for prayer, and is a small daily reminder of what the season is about. It's also communal: a whole church, and in some places a whole culture, doing it together.

How to respond

If a friend has given something up for Lent, don't offer it to them, and if they slip, don't gloat — it happens, and the tradition is forgiving. "What did you give up?" is a friendly February question in Catholic circles. If you're invited to a fish fry, go; they're social, cheap, and delicious. If you'd like to try Lent, pick one thing to give up and one thing to add, and start on Ash Wednesday.

If you hear it in different churches

Catholics keep Lent with fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, meatless Fridays, and extra devotions. Orthodox keep "Great Lent," stricter and on a different calendar — no meat, dairy, eggs, and often no oil or wine, for the whole season. Anglicans and Lutherans keep it with varying strictness. Methodists and Presbyterians observe it liturgically. Baptists, Pentecostals, and non-denominational churches historically didn't, though "giving something up for Lent" has spread widely. Mardi Gras and Shrove Tuesday are the last-day feasts before it starts.

Where does “Lent” come from?

A pre-Easter fast is attested in the 100s, first for days, then a week; the Council of Nicaea (325) refers to a forty-day period, tied to Jesus' wilderness fast and to the preparation of catechumens for baptism at Easter. The name "Lent" is Old English for spring ("lengthening" days); other languages use forms of the Latin quadragesima, "fortieth." Medieval Lent forbade meat, eggs, and dairy — hence pancakes on Shrove Tuesday to use them up, and Mardi Gras, "Fat Tuesday." The Reformation kept Lent in Anglican and Lutheran churches and dropped it in Reformed and free churches, some of which have recently recovered it.

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