eHow launches Android app: Get the best of eHow on the go.

How To

How to Observe Lent

Contributor
By eHow Contributing Writer
(11 Ratings)

The old Teutonic word "lent" meant simply the spring season. Since Anglo-Saxon times, though, it's been used to denote the 40-day period of fasting and purification leading up to Easter. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (February 21, 2007) and ends on Easter Sunday (April 8, 2007).

Difficulty: Easy
Instructions
  1. Step 1

    Decorate your church and/or home in purple, symbolizing both suffering and death, but also royalty and thus hope for the resurrection.

  2. Step 2

    Spend the Lent season in prayer, reflection and repentance. Lent is a time for soul-searching, facing great challenges and overcoming mistakes.

  3. Step 3

    Follow the tradition of Lent by fasting, done in honor of Christ's own 40-day fast in the desert. You can do this in whatever way seems appropriate to you - its intensity has varied from total abstinence to refraining from eating meat. Note that some churches focus less on fasting and encourage charitable deeds. For example, visit elderly people, baby-sit for young mothers or visit prisoners.

  4. Step 4

    Give up something you love for the 40-day period, symbolizing the Lenten season's return to simplicity and purity. It doesn't matter what you give up - cigarettes, chocolate, television, surfing the Internet - as long as the meaning of its absence holds significant value to you.

  5. Step 5

    Banish the gloom of winter and make room for Easter and the new life of spring. While this season might be tinged with solemnity, it should also be a time of looking forward to renewal and triumph.

Tips & Warnings
  • Giving up something for Lent is primarily a Catholic custom, but even if you're not a devotee of any formal religion, the voluntary surrender of a cherished substance or pastime can have powerful spiritual and psychological benefits. If nothing else, it will show you what you can do when you put your mind to it.
  • Clean your house from top to bottom. It's a modern - and thoroughly practical - metaphor for purification and renewal. Organize your closets and get rid of clutter.
  • Why not consider being more virtuous for a few weeks? Don't lose your temper, don't gossip, don't complain, go to church more often, or improve yourself in whatever way seems most appropriate to you.
  • Folk wisdom holds that it takes six weeks - a tad more than the length of Lent - to establish a new habit. So beware: what you begin as a temporary act of willpower could wind up as a whole new way of life.

Comments  

| View All 8 Comments

jokes said

Flag This Comment

on 3/6/2009 i chose to give up any attachment to creatures and world this lent and give God a place in my heart. by jokes

Joseph said

Flag This Comment

on 2/21/2007 Let God give me the power to hold true what I have chosen to give up for these 40 days.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 8/8/2006 I am asking God to help me give up my terrible anger against people who have wronged me.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 3/18/2006 I gave up cookies for lent this year.
Never realized how often I eat one.
I feel better knowing that I can do this.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

Flag This Comment

on 3/30/2006 Instead of giving something up for Lent, I pick one bad habit and worked on changing it. I have used Lent in the past to stop many self-destructive habits.

Post a Comment

Post a Comment

eHow Article: How to Observe Lent

  • Have you done this? Click here to let us know.
I Did This

Related Ads

Get Free Holidays & Celebrations Newsletters

Copyright © 1999-2009 eHow, Inc. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the eHow Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.   en-US Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.

Demand Media
eHow_eHow Holidays and Celebrations