Lent

[lnr]

So tonight I am making pancakes (yay!), and tomorrow is Lent. I'm not a Christian, but I do often give things up for Lent, which some may find strange. I suppose partly it's growing up with Christian traditions and wanting to keep them, and partly just because I find it a useful discipline. And it's a good time to give something up: just long enough to be a challenge but short enough that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, which makes it easier to stick to. I'd never even heard of the concept of feast days and Sundays not counting as part of Lent itself until very recently, despite it being originally something I learned through school and sunday school, so I've always given things up straight through from Ash Wednesday until the morning of Easter Sunday. I was considering giving up either alcohol or chocolate for Lent this year, but I have not one but two nice dinners out this weekend, and my sister's birthday the following weekend, and an entire box of chocolates just arrived at home. So should I even bother? I'm already counting calories which cuts back on overindulgence somewhat. Any suggestions?

Comments

[ceb.livejournal.com]

I'd never even heard of the concept of feast days and Sundays not counting as part of Lent itself until very recently, despite it being originally something I learned through school and sunday school, so I've always given things up straight through from Ash Wednesday until the morning of Easter Sunday.

*boggle* So you're allowed to cheat and not do 40 days? Presumably the theological basis is that Jesus nipped out of the desert once a week for a quick sandwich....

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

The idea is that feast days and sundays are special celebratory days, and that it's hard to celebrate if you're fasting.

Personally, I don't go much for that, but do take laetare sunday (Mothers' day) as a hlfway rest point (the idea there being that the whole forty days in one go gets a bit grinding, and one begins to forget the reasons for fasting, and merely concentrate on the fasting)

[lnr]

Actually if you count it you realise that if you include all the Sundays in Lent it adds up to more than 40 days anyway.

[tlingel.livejournal.com]

IIRC Lent actually ends on Palm Sunday (the entry into Jerusalem), not Easter Sunday.