Lent is a roughly 40-day period of Catholic fasting and devotion. In 2020 Lent is from Wednesday, February 26 to Thursday, April 9.
It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends during Holy Week (Semana Santa) on Maundy Thursday before Good Friday and Easter.
Lent Traditions
Lent is a time of religious piety which recalls the 40-days that Jesus spent in the wilderness. There are forty days of fasting with six days of feasting on Sundays.
The main Lenten traditions are prayer, fasting and charity. Many religions share this idea of a month of religious piety at the most important time in their calendar.
Today, many of the faithful practice giving up a vice during Lent.
Purple is the color of Lent. It is a universal color of nobility, royalty and spirituality.
Every Christian denomination has its own Lenten rituals.
The Meaning of Lent
It’s human nature to want to have fun. After a weekend of partying, you may have noticed that it takes a day or two to get back into your senses and the rhythm of work.
Lent serves this purpose after the relaxed feasting and fun of Carnival season. Since part of the Carnival spirit is consuming the previous season’s meat and beer, we pretty much have to fast until summer bears fruit.
So Lent is a preparation for the hard work of planting that comes with spring in the northern hemisphere. If your survival and the survival of your family depends on a good growing season, you can imagine the importance of preparing for that.
Isn’t it interesting how religious practice relates to the rhythms of Mother Earth?