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Customs during Lent

There are traditionally forty days in Lent which are marked by fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The three traditional practices to be taken up with renewed vigor during Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self), and almsgiving (justice towards neighbor). Today, some people give up something they enjoy, and often give the time or money spent doing that thing to charitable purposes or organizations. Lent is a season of sorrowful reflection that is punctuated by breaks in the fast on Sundays (the day of the resurrection); thus, Sundays are not counted in the forty days of Lent. In the Roman Catholic Church, and many other liturgical Christian denominations, Maundy Thursday (also called Holy Thursday, especially by Roman Catholics), Good Friday, and Holy Saturday form the Easter Triduum. Because Lent is a season of grief that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter, it is known in Eastern Orthodox circles as the season of "Bright Sadness".

The Lent semi-fast may have originated for practical reasons: in old times food stored away in the previous autumn was running out, or had to be used up before it went bad in store, and little or no new food crop was expected soon: compare the period in spring which British gardeners call the "hungry gap".

In the Roman Catholic Mass as well as the Lutheran Divine Service and Anglican Eucharist, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo is not sung during the Lenten season, disappearing on Ash Wednesday and not returning until the moment of the Resurrection during the Easter Vigil. Likewise, the Alleluia is not sung during the Lenten season; it is replaced before the Gospel reading by a Lenten acclamation. (On major feast days, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo is recited, but this in no way diminishes the penitential character of the season; it simply reflects the joyful character of the Mass of the day in question. It is also used on Holy Thursday.) Traditionally, the Alleluia was omitted at Mass beginning at Septuagesima, but since the Second Vatican Council, it has become customary to retain it until Ash Wednesday, although many traditionalists continue to practice the former custom.

Pre-Lenten Festivals

Though originally of pre-Christian content, the traditional carnival celebrations that precede Lent in many cultures have become associated with the season of fasting if only because they are a last opportunity for excess before Lent begins. The most famous of pre-Lenten carnivals in the West is Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (trans. Fat Tuesday).

Fasting and Abstinence

Fasting during Lent was more severe in ancient times than it is today. Socrates Scholasticus reports that in some places, all animal products were strictly forbidden, while others will permit fish, others permit fish and birds, others prohibit fruit and eggs, and still others eat only bread. In some places, believers abstained from food for an entire day, others took only one meal each day, while others abstained from all food until 3 o'clock. In most places, however, the practice was to abstain from eating until the evening and then a small meal without meat or alcohol was eaten.

During the early Middle Ages, meat, eggs and dairy products were generally proscribed. However, dispensations for dairy products were given, frequently for a donation, from which several churches are popularly believed to have been built, including the Butter Tower of the Rouen Cathedral.

Giraldus Cambrensis in his Iteneray of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales reports that "in Germany and the arctic regions", "great and religious persons," classified the tail of beavers as "fish" because of its resemblance to fish (lack of hair, smoothness, taste, color, and water habitat) and its abundance.

Today, in the West, the practice is considerably relaxed, though in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Catholic Oriental Churches abstinence from the above-mentioned food products is still commonly practiced, meaning only vegetarian meals are consumed during this time in many Eastern countries. Lenten practices (as well as other liturgical practices) are more common in Protestant circles than they once were.

Current fasting practice in the Roman Catholic Church binds persons over the age of majority and younger than fifty-nine (Canon 1251). Pursuant to Canon 1253, days of fasting and abstinence are set by the national Episcopal conference. On days of fasting, one eats only one full meal, but may eat two smaller meals as necessary to keep up strength. The two small meals together must sum to less than the one full meal. Parallel to the fasting laws are the laws of abstinence. These bind those over the age of eighteen. On days of abstinence, the Catholic must not eat meat or poultry. According to Canon law, all Fridays of the year, Ash Wednesday and several other days are days of abstinence, though in most countries, the strict requirement of abstinence have been limited by the bishops (in accordance with Canon 1253) to the Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday. On other abstinence days, the faithful are invited to perform some other act of penance.

If St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday, the prohibition against meat may be lifted for (or ignored by) North American Catholics of Irish origin who wish to enjoy the traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage.

Fasting during Lent is a way for the Christian to identify with Jesus in his suffering which, according to the record in the New Testament Biblical writings known as the Gospels, he underwent for the sake of humans in order to make propitiation for their failure to keep the laws instituted by God in the Pentateuch. This sacrifice is referred to by Christians variously as a substitutionary death, a redemptive death, and a death that satisfied the perfect justice of God, who actually provided the means for the satisfaction by sending Jesus, said in the Bible to be God's own son, to die in place of humanity. It is this distinction that fulfills the Hebrews' hope for a messiah (Christ, in Greek) who would save the troubled nation, according to the New Testament writings.

Many modern Protestants and Anglicans consider the observation of Lent to be a choice, rather than an obligation. They may decide to give up a favorite food (e.g. chocolate) or activity (e.g. going to the movies) for Lent, or they may instead decide to take on a Lenten discipline such as devotions, volunteering for charity work, and so forth.

Holy Days

There are several holy days within the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent in western Christianity; Clean Monday (Ash Monday) is the first day in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The fourth Sunday within Lent, which marks the halfway point between Ash Wednesday and Easter, is sometimes referred to as Laetare Sunday, particularly by Roman Catholics. The Sunday following is also known as Passion Sunday for traditional Catholics, though the latter term is also applied to the sixth and last Sunday of Lent, or Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent immediately preceding Easter. Wednesday of Holy Week is known as Spy Wednesday to commemorate the days that Judas spied on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane before betraying him. Thursday is known as Maundy Thursday, and is a day Christians commemorate the "Last Supper" shared by Jesus with his disciples. Good Friday follows the next day, in which Christians remember Christ's crucifixion and burial.

Holy Week and the season of Lent, depending on denomination and local custom, end with Easter Vigil at sundown on Holy Saturday or on the morning of Easter Sunday.

In the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions, the altar linens and priest's garments are violet during the season of Lent. However, during the holy days the linens often change. See Liturgical colours.