Hi, Thanks to everyone who helped me figure out what lent was and how it is celebrated and why.  I have collated all your responses, plus info from my minister and a book he gave me into a little paper for my Sunday School class members.  I have lifted freely from you without credit, if you hate this I'll remove it. This will be great info for all of us former Baptists who are now lost in the liturgy! Here's the ditty I wrote (by the way this is for a Methodist group and the specific sections on how Catholic and Orthodox Christians celebrate Lent is not a value judgement (actually I think it's great), it's just info because they are two distinct and different ways of practicing it from what we do): Lent What is Lent? Lent is the 40 weekdays before Easter.  Sundays are left out of the 40 day count.  Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.   Some interesting 40 facts are:  the flood lasted 40 days. Moses was 40 days on mount Horeb before giving the law of God to the people, Elijah was 40 days in the desert, and Jesus fasted 40 days in the desert and was tempted at the beginning of his ministry. What is Ash Wednesday? Ash Wednesday is a time for new beginnings in faith.  On Ash Wednesday we recall our mortality, and put aside our sins and failures of the past.  Ash Wednesday services involve the imposition of the ashes , or the making of the sign of the cross on each forehead with ashes.  Traditionally, the ashes are those of the palm fronds used in the Palm Sunday service the year before.  The ashes remind us of our mortality ( ashes to ashes, dust to dust... ).  Ashes are the ancient symbol of penance; even King David put them on for his little problem with Bathsheba.   Ash Wednesday can also be thought of as symbolizing the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.   The day before Ash Wednesday is called Fat Tuesday or in French, Mardi Gras .  The time of Mardi Gras is a time of revelry and partying before the Lenten time of self-sacrifice and austerity. How did Lent originate? The word Lent is from the Old English word lengten, or lencten meaning spring (because the days lengthen in spring).   By the second century Christians had started preparing for Easter with a two day 'grief fast' on the prior Friday and Saturday.  By the third century this fast was extended to all of Holy Week (the week preceding Easter).  There is ample evidence for this in a letter written by Dionysius of Alexandria.  And from the first Ecumenical Council at Nicea we learn that the idea of a 40 day fast in preparation for Easter was common  knowledge among Christians. From Adolf Adam's The Liturgical Year:   The Lenten fast meant that individuals took only a single daily meal; in accordance with ancient custom, this was eaten in the evening.  Abstinence from meat and wine was added later on, as was abstinence from diary products (milk, butter, cheese and eggs), in many countries, until the end of the Middle Ages and beyond.  From the High Middle Ages on, a growing relaxation may be observed in the practice of fasting; this was certainly connected with a higher esteem for the body in the philosophy and theology of the high scholastic period. Historically Lent was a time of preparing and training persons for initiation into the church at Easter.  It was also the period of time that those who had been alienated from the church or lapsed could be reconciled and restored to fellowship through prayer and penance.   This reminds us of Jesus' mercy and forgiveness. What is Lent for now? Lent is observed as season of penitence and a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter.  To be penitent means to express remorse over one's sins.  Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.   From the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy of the Catholic Church:   The season of Lent has a twofold character: primarily by recalling or preparing for baptism and by penance, it disposes the faithful, who more diligently hear the word of God and devote themselves to prayer, to celebrate the paschal mystery. What does it mean to fast during Lent? We may think of fasting as going without.  Usually fasting refers to food, but it doesn't always have to be food that we do without. During Lent, many people choose to do without certain pleasures in order to express remorse.  People often give up something for Lent , some pleasure, in order that every time they want that thing they will be reminded that Jesus gave up his life for our sins.  Jesus said we will fast when the bridegroom is taken from us.  Fasting also very strongly brings us to a much greater consciousness of our total reliance on God for everything.  It helps us concentrate on spiritual  things. Often people do fast from food during Lent, giving the money they would have spent on meals to a charity, and Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays during Lent.  Good Friday is a traditional day of fasting. Who practices Lent: Lent is most commonly practiced among Liturgical Churches .   Liturgical denominations are ones that follow a liturgy, or a specific order for worship (call to worship, public confession, reading of the Word, a sermon, confession of one of the Creeds, Lord's prayer, communion, close to worship and a call to service).  Liturgical churches have specific church seasons ( the liturgical calendar ):   Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, ?.  Liturgical churches usually have a defined set of Bible verses to be covered each Sunday, and this assures that the entire Bible is covered every so many years (typically five).  Examples of liturgical churches are Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Episcopalian.  If we think of Catholic as being the most liturgical and a Pentecostal church as being the least liturgical, Methodists would fall about in the middle.   Baptists might call us liturgical, Lutherans might not. For United Methodists the liturgical calendar is a way to renew our theological foundations and give a deeper meaning to the spiritual growth that should occur after conversion.   By participating in the practice of Lent, we are participating a form of worship that the early church practiced, and we hope to regain the discipline and power of our forefathers. How Catholic Christians practice Lent: Catholics do not eat meat or have more than one meal during the 24 hour period of Ash Wednesday; this is in order to give a pang of hunger and remind people of their mortality.  Before Vatican II every day in Lent was like this!  That must have been a long 40 days. The rule in the Catholic Church used to be that you couldn't eat meat on any Friday throughout the year, but it was changed in the 1960's to include only Lent.  This is done, because it is said that Christ died on a Friday, so the day is honored for that reason, just as Sunday is observed as his Resurrection.  The reason meat is forbidden is that in European cultures, meat was considered luxurious, the stuff kings and lords ate, so it was given up on Fridays.  Fish is acceptable, because it was considered a lesser food, not quite as nourishing as meat, or as tasty. The Catholic Church uses the time during Lent to finish the preparations of the Catechumenate in order to welcome them into full communion over  Easter.   Even in our own church (Aldersgate UMC) we conduct Confirmation classes for our young people during Lent. How Orthodox Christians practice Lent: (I happened to get some good responses from some Orthodox Christians on this subject, enough to warrant its own section) Orthodox Christians (Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox) don't have an Ash Wednesday.  For them, Lent starts on the Monday after Forgiveness Sunday.  For the Orthodox, Lent is a period of greater prayer and fasting in preparation for Pascha  (Easter). They count forty days including Sundays, and it lasts up until Holy Week starts (Lent does not for them include Holy Week).  Among other (complicated?) factors in calculating the date of  Pascha (Easter) is the Orthodox practice of not observing it until Passover is completed.  It doesn't make sense to them to observe Holy Friday before the time of the Passover meal, which the last supper was. In the Orthodox Church Lent begins at Vespers on Forgiveness Sunday, which  this year falls on 13 March.  During Vespers the colors in the church are changed from gold to purple, and the music changes to a minor key, which marks the actual beginning of Great Lent. At the end of Vespers every member of the congregation prostrates before every other member and asks for forgiveness. Christ wants no honor for himself as long as our brothers and sisters are dishonored, and so we need to begin the fast with forgiveness (see e.g. Isaiah 58). The Orthodox catechism The living God notes During the 40 days of Lent - days of repentance, of fasting, and of prayer - the Christian undertakes a pilgrimage towards the Lord. He prepares to meet his Lord in the radiant light of the resurrection, during the Liturgy of Holy Pascha.  Similarly, each Wednesday and each Friday, in remembrance of Christ's passion, faithful Christians prepare for the coming Sunday, which is the day of resurrection - a day on which we remain in total fasting before the Liturgy, in order to be filled and nourished with the Bread of Heaven during the Holy Eucharist, that is, communion in the Holy Mysteries. Note that Jesus did not say If you fast... but When you fast ... Orthodox abstain from ALL animal products, including fish, cheese, milk and eggs, for the entire forty days (well, there are some exceptions).  One reason fish is sometimes allowed when meat is not has to do with blood.  Some consider that blood, red blood, what we usually think of as blood, inflames the passions, as it were, and makes it more difficult to focus our total attention of God and his wondrous, miraculous mercy and love for us. In general, they abstain from animal products and oil during Lenten   periods, (there are a few others), and on almost all Wednesdays and   Fridays throughout the year.  Some people try to go without food entirely for the first day or three of Great Lent, and then again from Thursday evening of Holy Week until after the Resurrection service at midnight, Easter.