Lent
Lent
In Christian tradition, the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter is called Lent. The traditional purpose of Lent is the prepartation of the believer - through prayer, penitence, almsgiving, and self-denial for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls th events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Conventionally, it is described as being forty days long, though different denominations calculate the forty days dirrerently. The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan.
This practice was virtually universal in Christendom until the Protestant Reformation. Some Protestant churches do not observe Lent, but many such as Lutherans, Methodists, and Anglicans do. Lent was also traditionally the term used to describe the period leading up to Christmas before the term Advent was offically recognized.
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 renenwed vigour during Lent are "prayer" (justice towards God), "fasting" (justice towards self), and "almsgiving" (justice towards neighbour). Today, some people give up a vice of theirs, add something that will bring them closer to GOd, and often give the time or money spent doing that to charitable purposes or organizations. Lent is a sason of grief that necessarily ends with a great celebration of Easter. It is known in Eastern Orthodox circles as the season of "Bright Sadness". It is a season of sorrowful reflection which is punctuated by breaks in the fast on Sundays.
In the Roman Catholic Mass, Lutheran Divine Service, and Anglican Eucharist, the "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" is not sung during the Lent season, disapperaing on Ash Wednesday and not returning until the moment of the Resurrection during the Easter Vigil. On major feast days, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo is recited, but this is in no way diminshes the penitential character of the season; it simply reflects the joyful charter of the Mass of the day in question. It is also used in the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Likewise, the "Alleluia" is not sung during Lent; it is replaced before the Gospel reading by a seasonal acclamation. In the pre-1970 form of the Roman Rite omission of the Alleluia begins with Septuagesima. During the lent season, some Catholic Churches remove the holy water at the entrances of their churches. Instead of water, stones are placed. This practice of removing the holy water has been forbidden by the Vatican.
The last two weeks of Lent are known as Passiontide. It begins on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, which in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal is called the First Sunday in Passiontide and in earlier editions Passion Sunday. All statues (and in England paintings as well) in the church were traditionallyu veiled in violet, and according to the rubrics should continue to be so. This was seen to be in accordance with the Gospel of that Sunday (John 8:46-59), in which Jesus "hid himself" from the people.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes at the Ninth Hour of Holy Thursday (44 days in the Catholic Church) or on Holy Saturday (46 days). The six Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days because each Sunday repesents a "mini-Easter", a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.
In those churches which follow the Byzantine tradtion (e.g. Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics), the forty days of Lent are calculated differently; the fast begins on Clean Monday, Sundays are included in the count and it ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday. The days of Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday, and Holy Week are considered a distinct period of fasting. The Coptic Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches observe a total of fifty five days for Lent. Joyous Saturday and the week preceding it are counted seperately from the forty day fast in accordance with teh Apostolic Constitutions giving an extra eight days. The first seven days of the fast are considered by some to be an optional time of prepartaion. Others attribute these seven days ot the fast of Holofernes who asked the Syrian Christians to fast for him after they requested his assistance to repel the invading pegan Persians.
Fasting during Lent was much more severe in ancient times than today. All animal products were stricly forbidden, while others will permit fish, others perit fish and fowl, others prohibit fruit and eggs, and still others eat only bread. In some places, believers bstained from food for an entire day; others took only one meal each day, while others abstained from all fod until 3 o'clock. In most places, however, the practice was to abstain from eating until the evening, when a small meal without meat or alcohol was eaten. Even now, the Orthodox Churches continue the practice of avoiding all animal products including fish, eggs, fowl, and milk sourced from animals (e.g. goats and cows as opposed to the milk of soy beans and coconuts) for the entire fifty-five (55) days of Lent.
In current Western societies the practice is considerably relaxed, though in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches abstinence from the previously mentioned food is still commonly practiced, meaning only vegetarian meals are consumed during this time in many Eastern countries. Lent practices are more common in Protestant circles than than ever before. In the Roman Catholic Church it is tradition to abstin from meat from Ungulates (meaning roughly "being hooved" or "hooved animals") every Friday for the duration of Lent, although dairy products are still permitted. On Ash Wednesday it is customary to fast for theday, with no meat, eating only one full meal, and if necessary, two small meals also.
Many modern Protestants consider the observation of Lent to be a choice, rather than an obligation. They may decide to give up a favorite food or drink (e.g. chocolate, alcohol) or activity (e.g. going to the movies, playing video games, etc) for Lent, or they may instead take on a Lent discipline such as devotions, volunteering for charity work, etc.
** Information and exerts taken from Wilipedia