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Lent is the period of 40 weekdays
(i.e., excluding the Sundays), from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday.
Lent is also called Lenten.
The Teutonic word Lent, which we
employ to denote the forty days' fast preceding Easter, originally meant
no more than the spring season. Still it has been used from the Anglo-Saxon
period to translate the more significant Latin term quadragesima (French
carême, Italian quaresima, Spanish cuaresma), meaning the "forty
days", or more literally the "fortieth day". This in turn
imitated the Greek name for Lent, tessarakoste (fortieth), a word formed
on the analogy of Pentecost (pentekoste), which last was in use for the
Jewish festival before New Testament times. This etymology, as we shall
see, is of some little importance in explaining the early developments of
the Easter fast.
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.
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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".
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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