Lent

an annual fast of forty days preceding Easter Sunday. The word is Anglo-Saxon meaning the season of spring. It begins on Ash Wednesday and closes on Easter Sunday. In commemoration of Christ's fast of forty days, described in Matthew iv: 2, and as a preparation for Easter, the abstention from amusements and from the eating of hearty food is enjoined by the Greek, Roman Catholic, English, and Lutheran churches. See Good Friday; Easter Sunday; Mardi Gras; Carnival; Ash-Wednesday