Wednesday, February 21st, AD 2007, is Ash Wednesday. This time signifies the beginning of the season of Lent.

Lent is a liturgical year season consisting of 40 days and 6 Sundays meant for penitence and spiritual renewal. Throughout Lent, beginning with the Ash Wednesday service, there is a call to encounter and acknowledge our own mortality. The greatest symbol of this is the ritual of placing a cross of ash on one’s forehead, for as the Holy Scriptures says,

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:19)

The Lenten season goes 46 days altogether (40 days of observation plus 6 Sundays) and concludes with Easter Sunday, the observation of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is with this victory that the penitence and focus on death is o’er, and the joy of redemption and new life is celebrated.

Of the many traditions and rituals found with Lent, the most popular one is giving up something during the 40 days as a show of discipline. This can vary from alcohol, drugs, or swearing to computer games, soda, or tennis. Some people give up multiple things during this season.

Of course, many Christian sects do not observe Lent due to it being part of the liturgical calendar and not being directly mentioned in the Holy Bible. The biblical basis for Lent is found in a long period of fasting and prayer performed in the wilderness by Jesus Christ, as described in the Gospels. Of them, the Gospel According to St. Mark puts in the most laconic description:

"And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him." (Mark 1:12-13)