Easter every year is preceded by Lent, a period of time that, although it has a lot to do with the Church, especially the Catholic Church, few know why it is celebrated or what its origin is. Let’s see below all the information about what is Lent: history and origin.
what is lent
Lent, like every year, begins on Ash Wednesday, being a very important period for believers and the faithful since it anticipates the arrival of Easter. Is he period that Christians celebrate before receiving the resurrection of Jesus, but it also serves to make a trip of conversion and fasting. In fact, on this day the penitential practice begins, which has very ancient origins and which we will see later.
This is the public celebration of penance. And on the occasion of the Christian ashes, the faithful undertake that journey of abstention and prayer that leads to absolution from sins on the morning of Holy Thursday.
The meaning of the ashes is, therefore, this: the public celebration of penance, understood as a rite that will lead to the absolution of sins. But also to the authentic conversion of the faithful. This day also begins Lent, also called Cuadragesima, which is a “time of forty days.” This number occurs often in the Christian religion, and there are many meanings and episodes in which the number forty occurs.
But, Why does Lent originate and why does it occur on Ash Wednesday? The term “Ash Wednesday” indicates the Wednesday that anticipates the first Sunday of Lent. On this day begins the period of Lent, also called the “strong” liturgical period. The latter provides penance and fasting in preparation for Easter. On Ash Wednesday, the Church provides for fasting and abstinence from meat. Not surprisingly, the day before Ash Wednesday is Shrove Tuesday, which is the last day on which “fat” can be eaten, with no particular limitations.
During the Ash Wednesday celebration, the priest spreads a pinch of blessed ashes on the foreheads of the faithful. This rite refers to the meaning of the Christian ashes themselves, namely, to remind the faithful of the transience of earthly life and the precariousness of the human condition. To underline the ephemeral aspect of earthly existence, there are also the warning formulas provided for by the liturgy.
The priest, in fact, at the imposition of ashes, can recite the traditional formula. “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” With this invitation to conversion we refer to the words that the Lord spoke to Adam. “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, until you return to the ground, because you were taken out of it: dust you are and you will return to dust” (Gen 3:19).
Or there is also the more recent prayer “Repent and believe the Gospel”. The latter was introduced by the liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council. The ash placed on the head is obtained from the burning of the blessed olive branches on Palm Sunday from the previous year.
The meaning of Holy Week:
As for the term Lent, it is used to indicate the forty-day period of time that anticipates Passover. The number 40 has a strong symbolic value in the Christian religion. Forty were the days spent by Jesus in the desert. Here the Lord fasted forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by the devil, as we read in the Gospel of Matthew.
Forty are also the days of the universal flood. As well as the days spent by Moses on Mount Sinai. Or the years it took the people of Israel to reach the Promised Land. The meaning of Ash Wednesday is not separate from that of Lent, which is the time of waiting and purification.
In this period of time there are practices that must be observed, such as fasting, understood as abstinence not only from food. But also of everything that is not sober. On Ash Wednesday, meat is not eaten. Just like the Friday of Lent. Christians are called to give alms and pray, to better prepare for the coming of Holy Easter.
When does Holy Week start?
When does the period of Lent start and end?
Lentfor the Catholic Church, then begins the Ash Wednesday (the day after Shrove Tuesday) and ends on Holy Thursday before Easter.
Lent actually lasts forty-four days, but it is meant to recall the aforementioned forty days of fasting spent by Jesus in the desert after receiving baptism in the Jordan River. According to the Holy Scriptures, on this occasion, Christ had to resist the temptations of the devil three times.
For this reason, Lent, in the Catholic world, is synonymous with penance and renunciation, as well as fasting while awaiting the arrival of Easter.
History and origin of Lent
Lent is one of the oldest celebrations in the Christian calendar. Like all Christian holy days and holidays, it has changed over the years, but its purpose has always remained the same: self-examination and penance, demonstrated by self-sacrifice, in preparation for Easter. The early church father Irenaus of Lyons (c.130-c.200), wrote about such a season in the early days of the churchbut back then it only lasted two or three days, not the 40 we see today.
In 325, the Council of Nicaea he discussed a 40-day fasting period of Lent, but it is unclear whether his original intention was only for new Christians preparing for Baptism, and soon after it ended up encompassing the entire Church.
Know the reason for Ash Wednesday:
How exactly the churches counted those 40 days varied depending on the location. In the East, they fasted on weekdays. Western church Lent was a shorter week, but included Saturdays. But in both places, the observance was strict and serious. Only one meal was taken a day, around the afternoon. There was to be no meat, fish or animal products.
Until the 600s, Lent began on Fortieth Sunday but Gregory the Great (c.540-604) moved it to a Wednesday, now called Ash Wednesday.
Over the years, modifications have been made to the observances of Lent, making our practices not only simple but also easy. The Ash Wednesday still marks the beginning of Lent, which lasts 40 days, not including Sundays. Today’s customs of fasting and abstinence are very simple: on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, fast faithfully (eating only one full meal a day and smaller snacks to maintain strength) and abstain from eating meat; On the other Fridays of Lent, the faithful abstain from eating meat. People are still encouraged to “give something up” for Lent as a sacrifice. (An interesting note is that, technically, on Sundays and solemnities such as Saint Joseph’s Day (March 19) and Annunciation (March 25), one is exempt and can partake of whatever has been offered for Lent.)
Traditions during Lent
The same tradition exists in many other religions, spiritual and philosophical throughout the world. It has an almost universal character where man tries to fight for perfection.
In the first day of Lent, Christians go to church to celebrate ashes. The priest officiates and draws a cross on the foreheads of the faithful asking them to convert and believe in the Gospel. A strong symbol of mourning, ashes represent the insignificance of man towards the Absolute to which he is promised.
The other strong celebrations of Lent come after Palm Sunday (which celebrates the Passion of Christ and the entrance to Holy Week), and are Holy Thursday (the last meal of Christ with his Apostles), Holy Friday ( recall the journey of Christ carrying his cross), the Holy Saturday (in mourning for the burial) and, finally, the Easter Sunday (to celebrate his resurrection), which marks the end of the fast.
During Catholic Lent, fasting is not offered on Sundays. Many believers take advantage of Lent to confess their sins. Since the age of 14, Christians have abstained from meat, especially every Friday. Purple is the color of Lent, it is found in churches at this particular time of year.
Curiosities of Lent
Since you can’t eat meat, you eat seafood and fish. This is what Mexicans think, where during these holidays the consumption of these foods doubles. However, and despite the so-called “fasting”, the Church does not prevent us from eating, but asks that only 1 meal a day be eaten, so that we eat frugally, but without lacking food, because we do not try to risk your health.
We have already seen how some make up their Lenten menu. But in past centuries and, specifically, in the Middle Ages, they did not do it so well, since the foods allowed for these days were oil, bread and water. Well thought, bread with oil is not so bad, although we see it as a basic menu.
Best of all, why don’t you guess what it is? It turns out that during Lent (40 days in total), the faithful who decide to follow the rule of fasting manage to lose weight. Beyond losing weight, what these people are most grateful for is that weight loss is just one more effect that, by improving diet, the body also becomes slimmer.
Another curiosity is that those 40 days do not include Sundays. You have to subtract the six Sundays that go from Ash Wednesday to the Saturday before Easter Sunday.
What is the most important thing about Lent?
The meaning of Lent is to remind us that Jesus was tempted to succumb to the charms of being seen as a man of power, admired and applauded who might have had privileges within his grasp. This is, as it could happen to us and, in fact, it happens to the rest of us on a daily basis, there are pleasures that we all like, however falling into them is harming our spirit. And we are not only talking about physical pleasures, but about temptations or pleasures for the ego.
We all like to be loved, to be congratulated and seen as the best, no one dislikes the fact that they are given a prize or recognized. However, life is much more than that and there are people who go around the world feeding their ego, becoming arrogant and self-confident. Christ could have been like this and have fallen into those evils for the soul. But he did not do it, but he internally fought against his desires for the earthly world, to give priority to the spiritual part of him in which you do not need anything from the physical world, not even, taken to the extreme, food or water.
Hence Lent is importantbeyond the religious and Christian sense, because it invites us to reflect on what is really important in life and to divest ourselves of everything we think we need or value and that can really us…