What are the origins of Lent and what is its significance to Christians?
The Teutonic word “Lent,” which we use to designate the 40 days of prayer and fasting preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the “spring season.” But it was used to translate the Latin term, “quadragesimo,” meaning “40 days.” There’s wide divergence as to how this period of prayerful preparation for Easter was interpreted and lived out in various parts of the church through the ages. A thousand years ago, for example, Ash Wednesday celebrations and the Thursday, Friday and Saturday celebrations that followed were added because the fast days of Lent did not add up to a total of 40 days. Sundays were never considered days of fasting, because that’s the day Christians continually observe the resurrection of Christ, so it can’t be a day of abstaining from food and drink. Before this time, the season began with the first Sunday of Lent. Many of us remember the Lenten season when we were children. We gave up something — ice cream, chewing gum, movies, etc. It was a good practice in
