48 Fun Facts About Lent

Lent's forty days are modelled on which biblical episode?

Jesus fasting in the desert: the Gospels set that fast just before he began his public ministry, and Lent copies it as preparation for Easter.

Where does the word 'Lent' come from?

An Old English term for spring: lencten meant springtime, probably because the days grow longer in that season.

In Western churches, why are Sundays not counted as fasting days in Lent?

Sundays are always the Lord's Day, a weekly celebration of the resurrection, so they are never fast days; that is why the calendar count runs past forty.

When does the Catholic liturgical season of Lent end?

On the evening of Holy Thursday: the season closes as the Mass of the Lord's Supper begins, and after its Gloria the church bells fall silent.

What are the three traditional pillars of Lent?

Prayer, fasting and almsgiving: in Matthew 6, Jesus urges that all three be done in secret, not for show.

What is giving up a personal pleasure for Lent commonly called?

A Lenten sacrifice: it is a voluntary custom, since church law itself only demands fasting and abstinence on set days.

Ash Wednesday can fall on which holiday?

Valentine's Day: Ash Wednesday moves with Easter, and in 2024 it fell on 14 February, so Catholics faced a fast on a night of romantic dinners.

Which words are said as the ashes are imposed?

Remember that you are dust: the words echo God's sentence on Adam in Genesis 3:19, and the missal also offers 'Repent, and believe in the Gospel'.

The 'shrove' in Shrove Tuesday comes from a verb meaning what?

To absolve through confession: Christians went to church that day to confess and be shriven before the fast began.

Why are pancakes associated with the day before Lent?

They use up eggs, milk and butter: households cleared out rich foods before the fast, and pancake races grew out of the same custom.

Which English town claims a pancake race dating from 1445?

Olney: tradition says a housewife heard the church bell in 1445 and ran to church still holding her frying pan, and since 1950 the town has raced Liberal, Kansas.

Which treat is eaten in Poland on Tłusty Czwartek, the last Thursday before Lent?

Pączki: Polish communities around Detroit hold a Pączki Day of their own, with queues outside bakeries.

What does 'Mardi Gras' mean in French?

Fat Tuesday refers to the last day of eating rich, fatty food before the fast begins the following morning.

What are the social organisations that stage New Orleans Mardi Gras parades called?

Krewes: the spelling is a deliberately old-fashioned take on 'crew', thought to have been coined by the Mistick Krewe of Comus.

At Ivrea's carnival in Italy, teams said to recall a revolt against a tyrant pelt each other with what?

Oranges: throwers on foot play the rebels and those on carts the tyrant's guards, after a legendary miller's daughter defied him.

As of 2025, which carnival is recognised by Guinness World Records as the largest in the world?

Rio de Janeiro: in 2021 the Covid-19 pandemic forced the city to call off its carnival.

In 1823, which city held the first Rose Monday parade of its modern carnival?

Cologne: when the 1991 parade was called off over the Gulf War, locals marched its route anyway in an anti-war protest.

What does the Sunday before Easter commemorate?

Christ's entry into Jerusalem: the crowd waved palm branches, long a symbol of victory, to greet him as a king.

According to the gospels, which animal did Jesus ride on Palm Sunday?

A donkey: Matthew presents the ride as fulfilling a prophet's words about a king arriving meek and riding on an ass.

In colder climates, which trees' branches have been carried in place of palms on Palm Sunday?

Box, olive, willow and yew: the swap ran so deep that the day itself was even called Yew Sunday.

On which day does Great Lent begin in Eastern Christianity?

Clean Monday: in Greece and Cyprus it is a public holiday spent on outdoor excursions, and people fly kites.

How does the Eastern count of the forty days differ from the Western one?

The arithmetic is the mirror image of the Western scheme. Fasting continues through Holy Week regardless.

Which foods are most commonly given up during Great Lent?

Meat, eggs, dairy and oil: meat is given up a week before eggs and dairy, so the fast tightens in stages before Lent begins.

The first Sunday of Great Lent celebrates the ninth-century return of what to Byzantine churches?

Icons: after the iconoclast emperor Theophilos died, his widow Theodora lifted the ban, and the images were carried back into the churches in procession.

In Eastern Christianity, when is the Lenten fast finally broken?

After the Paschal Vigil: the fast runs on through Holy Week, so the first meal comes in the small hours of Easter morning.

Which two days are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics?

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday: one opens the season and the other marks the crucifixion, so both call for fasting as well as going without meat.

What does Britain's monarch hand out on Maundy Thursday?

Silver coins: the ceremony grew out of an older custom in which the sovereign washed poor people's feet on that day.

What may a Catholic eat on a fast day?

One full meal, two small ones: the two smaller meals together must not equal a full meal, and church law does not restrict drinks.

Under Catholic abstinence rules, which of these counts as meat?

Chicken counts as meat: the rule covers the flesh of warm-blooded land animals and birds, which is why poultry is forbidden on Lenten Fridays.

A Cincinnati franchisee's fish sandwich for Catholics on Lenten Fridays became a menu staple at which chain?

McDonald's: company boss Ray Kroc backed his own meatless Hula Burger, but the fish sandwich outsold it and stayed on the menu.

Under Catholic canon law, abstinence from meat is prescribed on which days throughout the year?

Canon 1251 prescribes abstinence from meat on every Friday of the year unless a solemnity falls on it, though bishops' conferences may let the faithful substitute another penance.

What separates fasting from going without meat?

Abstinence generally means going without meat, but not dairy or fish. Fasting limits the amount eaten rather than the type.

In Milan's Ambrosian Rite, on which day does Lent begin?

The Sunday after Ash Wednesday: in Pope Gregory the Great's time, Rome seems to have started Lent on that Sunday, until four days were added to make forty fasting days.

Which ecumenical council's canons may hold the earliest reference to a forty-day Lent?

Nicaea: its fifth canon, from 325, sets a synod 'before the fortieth' so that bitterness is put aside and the gift offered to God is pure.

In which country do some penitents have themselves literally crucified on Good Friday?

The Philippines: the country's Catholic bishops have warned penitents against it, calling such displays spiritual vanity.

Which practice happens in the last two weeks of Lent in some traditions?

Statues and crosses are veiled: the custom was linked to the Gospel read as the fortnight begins, in which Jesus hid himself from a crowd.

What colour do Catholic priests wear for most of Lent?

Purple: violet signals penance, so the Church also uses it for penitential Masses and for Masses for the dead.

Which spiced bun is traditionally eaten in Britain on Good Friday?

Hot cross bun: once a treat for Good Friday and Easter, it is now sold all year round in shops in Britain and Australia.

Which name covers Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday as one celebration?

The Easter Triduum: before reforms in the 1950s its night-time services had crept so early that they were held on Saturday morning.

Which wild flower is known in England and Wales as the 'Lent lily'?

Daffodil: its bulbs are poisonous, yet a compound found in them, galantamine, is used to treat Alzheimer's disease.

Which word of praise do Western churches drop from their services throughout Lent?

Alleluia: Eastern churches, by contrast, keep singing it right through Lent, even at services for the dead.

The midweek day of Holy Week, recalling Judas's bargain to betray Jesus, has which nickname?

Spy Wednesday: the name casts Judas as a spy within the Twelve, since that day's Gospel tells of his bargain with the chief priests.

Medieval writer Giraldus Cambrensis reported which animal's tail being eaten as 'fish' during the Lenten fast?

Beaver: medieval churchmen let people eat its scaly, fishlike tail on meatless days, and Gerald said it had the taste and colour of fish.

In Danish Fastelavn, children knock down a sweet-filled barrel in a custom said to symbolise battling what?

Evil: until the 1800s a live cat was shut inside, since folk belief tied cats to evil, and it ran free once the barrel broke.

What does 'laetare', the name for Lent's fourth Sunday, mean in Latin?

Rejoice: on that Sunday flowers may return to the altar and priests may wear rose instead of the usual Lenten colour.

Which pope's 1966 constitution Paenitemini cut Catholic obligatory fasting to just two days?

Paul VI: before his 1966 reform, adult Catholics had fasted on all the weekdays of Lent, not on just two days.

Eastern Orthodox Christians often describe Great Lent with which two-word phrase?

Bright sadness: Lent's grief over sin is meant to be lit from within by the joy of God's forgiveness, the paradox the phrase captures.

Which reformer defended people who ate sausages during Lent in 1522?

Huldrych Zwingli: his sermon argued that the Bible sets no ban on meat in Lent, and the row sparked the Reformation in Zurich.