After Mardi Gras, with its doughnuts and carnival, comes Ash Wednesday and the period of Lent. What's behind these obscure terms, which are so important to Christians?
Ash Wednesday is the Wednesday that always follows Mardi Gras. As you'll have read in our article on this festival, Mardi Gras is a day of excess, a time for feasting and feasting before the "lean" period begins. So, with this Wednesday marking the first day of Lent, believers must eliminate all meats and fancy dishes from their meals.
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But where does this special name come from? On Ash Wednesday, believers go to church for a special celebration, during which ashes from the previous year's branches are consecrated and placed on the foreheads of the faithful in the form of a cross. Ashes are highly symbolic: they are a sign of repentance. They represent sin and the fragility of being. By covering themselves with them, believers show that they recognize their sins and ask God to forgive them.
Penance is at the heart of Lent. For 40 days (not including Sundays), the faithful will eat lean (no meat and no rich or refined dishes), pray, do penance and give alms.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Day, the most important event in the Christian calendar. The whole Lenten period is a preparation for the death and resurrection of Christ. Believers try to draw closer to him through concrete actions: they must deprive themselves of that which distances them from God, adopt a path of humility through prayer and penance, and turn to those in need of help.
During Lent, believers also celebrate Holy Week, which falls just before Easter and brings Lent to a close. It begins with Palm Sunday (celebration of Christ's solemn entry into Jerusalem) and includes Maundy Thursday (celebration of the Lord's Supper and the institution of the Eucharist), Good Friday (celebration of Christ's Passion and death on the cross) and ends on the night of Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday.
Why 40 days? This period represents the 40 years spent in the desert by the people of Israel, between their escape from Egypt and their entry into the Promised Land. This number can also be associated with the 40 days spent by Jesus Christ in the desert, between his baptism and the beginning of his public life. Indeed, the word "Lent" comes from the contraction of the Latin word quadragesima, meaning "fortieth".
Like Ramadan, with which it shares many similarities, Lent is a moveable feast: its date changes every year. It is calculated in relation to Easter, i.e. it must begin 40 days before (not counting Sundays). The date of Easter is determined by the moon. Easter is the Sunday following the first full moon of spring, which begins on March 21.
So, this year, Lent begins on February 14 and ends on March 31, 2024. Next year, Lent is scheduled to run from March 5 to April 20, 2025.
Mardi Gras 2024: What are we celebrating on this festive day? History and origins
