Facts About Lent

Dear Lovelies,

In doing a bit of a deep dive on Lent, I learned some interesting tidbits:

• Beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Maundy Thursday, Lent lasts for 40 days, not counting Sundays.
• Forty days of Lent helps us remember Jesus’s forty days in the wilderness where Jesus fasted, prayed, and was challenged by the devil.
• Lent was first officially introduced in the fourth century at the Council of Nicaea.
• Rules around Lent began strictly allowing folks to eat only once a day in the evening; meat, fish, and animal products were prohibited. Over the years those rules relaxed: by the 15th century, one could eat by noon and other foods like fish were allowed. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that fasting days were restricted only to Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
• Many people give up an item of enjoyment or dependence like fast food, cigarettes, chocolate, social media, or alcohol; others give up detrimental actions like gossiping or criticizing. Others choose to replace vices with prayer, e.g. time on Facebook with time in prayer.
• Most importantly is one’s intent: fasting as participation in or remembrance of Jesus’s suffering.
• Lent is observed by Roman Catholics and some Protestant denominations, e.g. Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians; though others may not, citing it is not practiced in Scripture.
• Almsgiving during Lent is an actionable way to show compassion and sincerity through acts of kindness. One example is to give away forty bags (or forty items) in forty days from the surplus in one’s home.

Lastly, its worth noting that if you do choose to fast/replace/give up an item for Lent, you have a reprieve on Sundays and feast days, i.e. St. Joseph’s Day on March 19 and the Annunciation on March 25. The more you know…

Happy Day!

Traci Billman, Director of Christian Education