Need a refresher course on Lent, its meaning, and the customs that stem from the season? The following information is quoted from The Year of the Lord and The Christian Year: Days and Seasons of the Church.
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is forty days (not counting Sundays) before Easter. It may occur on any date from February 4 to March 10. The addition of the four days preceding the First Sunday in Lent was made in sixth-century Rome, probably to bring the total number of days in the fast to the forty of that of our Lord. The name “Ash Wednesday” comes from the medieval custom of sprinkling ashes on the heads of penitents on this day. Originally these penitents appear to have been persons under church discipline who wished to be reconciled to the church on Maundy Thursday. The ashes were a public acknowledgement of their penance. The ashes were prepared by burning the palms of the previous Palm Sunday and pulverizing the ash.
As the ceremony of the reconciliations of penitents fell into disuse, the practice arose of marking the heads of all the faithful with an ashen cross as a visible symbol of the penitential season which began on this day. It thus became a general custom no longer confined to those under suspension or ex-communication.
Symbolically the 40-day Lenten period, not counting Sundays, parallels Christ’s 40-day withdrawal into the wilderness. (The Christian Year)
The oldest mood of Lent was not one of sorrow and sadness. The liturgies of the Eastern church, for example, retain the older Hallelujahs, looking forward to Christ’s resurrection, though in the West the custom was to focus on His suffering and death.
Shrove Tuesday takes its name from “shriving,” or the forgiving of sins. In many countries Shrove Tuesday is a time of reveling and celebrating before the great fast. It even gives us the word “carnival,” the Latin for “goodbye to meat.” In French countries the day is called not Shrove Tuesday but Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday.” Perhaps this is because the housewife was expected to use up all her fats and butter in baked goods.
Lenten fasting at one time served a useful and Christian purpose. Fasts were common in Biblical times. In the New Testament period the church encouraged the faithful to fast on those days when Christ died (Fridays) and when Judas agreed to betray him (Wednesdays). The food which would normally have been eaten during a fast was given to the poor.
Foods such as pretzels and hot cross buns stem directly from Lent. As the time when the fast was far stricter than it is now, including a ban on dairy products as well as meat, people subsisted largely on breads and pastries, eked out with soups and vegetables.
Pretzels are one of those Lenten foods. Bakers in Germany decided to turn out something that even looked religious. The crossed arms of the pretzel were intended to represent a Christian at prayer.
Today fasting has almost disappeared as the requirements have lessened even within the Roman Catholic Church. Luther and other reformers were not opposed to fasting as such, provided it was a preparation for the proper reception of Communion. As the Scriptural reading for Ash Wednesday makes quite clear, however, outward preparations are far less essential than inward ones. (The Year of the Lord)
[Jesus said,] “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
—Matt. 6:1-6, 16-21