Lent 2011...

When and what is Lent?

Lent is a Christian Festival and is the time when Christians prepare for Easter by thinking of things they have done wrong. The forty days (not counting Sundays) before Easter is known as Lent. This is the time of year in England when the days begin to lengthen with the coming of Spring.

The weeks of Lent were once the time when new Christians, who were to be baptized on Easter Eve, were taught about the Christian faith and life. Those who had already been baptized thought again about the promises they had once made and promise to be true to them. Lent was a time for spring-cleaning lives, as well as homes.

When does Lent begin?
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the day after Pancake Day and , six and a half weeks before Easter Day. The last week of Lent begins with Palm Sunday, which celebrates the day Jesus entered Jerusalem and the people lay down palms at his feet.

In 2009 Ash Wednesday will be on 25 February.

The date of Ash Wednesday varies each year according to the date of Easter. It is always six-and-a-half weeks before Easter. The earliest possible date of Ash Wednesday is February 4 and the latest possible date is March 10.

What is Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday is a day of penitence to clean the soul before the Lent fast. Christians use ash as a symbol of being sorry for things they have done wrong and want to get rid of forever.

Why is it called Ash Wednesday?
Ashes are something that are left when something is burned.

Ashes were used in the past as a symbol of being sorry. Christians rubbed ashes on their foreheads. They wanted to show God that they were sorry for the wrong things they had done in the past year.

What happens on Ash Wednesday today?
Some Christians have a tiny smudge of ashes put on their foreheads as a sign of sorrow at not having been good over the last year.

What are the ashes made from?
In churches the priest first burns the palm that have been kept from last year's Palm Sunday and then mixes the ashes of these crosses with holy water (which has been blessed) to make a greyish paste. When people go to church on Ash Wednesday, the priest dips his thumb in the paste and uses it to make the sign of the cross on each person's forehead. copyright of projectbritain.com

Why are last years Palm Crosses recycled?
Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, so when the crosses used in the last years Palm Sunday service are converted to ashes, worshippers are reminded that defeat and crucifixion swiftly followed triumph.

What do the ashes symbolise?
Using ashes to mark the cross on the believer's forehead symbolises that through Christ's death and resurrection, all Christians can be free from sin.

When does Lent end? When is Lent over?
Lent lasts for 40 days and ends the day before Easter Sunday, which is known as Holy Saturday. Sundays are not counted in the forty days.

In the Roman Catholic Church, Lent officially ends at sundown on Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), with the beginning of the mass of the Lord's Supper.

Why does Lent last for 40 days?
The number 40 is a special number in the Bible. It signifies preparation for something special:

   * The flood lasted for 40 days - Noah
  * Moses stayed on the Mount Sinai forty days (Ex 24:18)
  * Jonah gave the people of Ninevah forty days to repent (Jon 3:4)
  * Jesus, before starting his ministry, spent forty days in the desert in prayer and fasting (Matt 4:2)

So, as in the Bible, Christians spend forty days in preparing themselves to rejoice at the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter.

Why are Sundays not counted in the 40 days?
Sundays are always a day of celebration in the Christian church and so they cannot be included in the 40 days of Lent. Sundays commemorate the Resurrection. copyright of projectbritain.com

What happens during Lent?
Fasting
During Lent, Christians used to fast (give up food) but now a days some people try to give up their favourite food, such as chocolate, and not giving into temptation. Others might give up all dairy products. The Orthodox Church keeps Lent more strictly and people give up both meat and dairy products.

Lent is a time when Christians remember the 40 days and nights Jesus spent alone in the desert without food being tempted by the Devil. Jesus used this time to prepare for His work by fasting and praying.

Bible Study
Many churches hold special Lent services. In some towns the churches of different denominations join together in groups to discuss and share their Christian faith.

Easter
What is Easter?
Easter is the time for holidays, festivals and a time for giving chocolate Easter eggs. But Easter means much more....

Easter is the oldest and the most important Christian Festival, the celebration of the death and coming to life again of Jesus Christ. For Christians, the dawn of Easter Sunday with its message of new life is the high point of the Christian year.

What is the Easter story?
Easter is the story of Jesus' last days in Jerusalem before his death.The Easter story includes Maundy Thursday (the Last supper leading to the Eucharist), Good Friday (the day on which Jesus was crucified) and Easter Day (the day on which Jesus came back to life).

It is a sad story because Jesus was killed. But the story has a very happy ending, because Jesus came back to life and visited his friends and followers once more. He did not die at all, but went back up to Heaven to be with God, his father.

Where does the name 'Easter' come from?
Pagan traditions give us the English word "Easter" which comes from the word "Eostre". The Anglo-Saxon word for April was "Eostre-monath" (the month of openings). However, it should be remembered that Christians celebrated the resurrection of Christ long before the word "Easter" was used, and the word they used for the celebration was "Pascha", which is derived from and linked to the Jewish festival of Passover.

According to Bede, the English monastic historian, the English word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon name for the month of April, which was known as "Eostremonath" in AngloSaxon tongue and since Pascha was most often celebrated in Eostremonath, the English Christians began calling it "Easter". Bede also notes that the month was named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess Esostre.

Why does the date of Easter move?
Easter is called a moveable feast because the date of Easter changes every year. Easter Sunday can fall on any date from 22 March to 25 April.

The reason for this variation in the date of Easter is based on the lunar calendar (moon) rather than our more well-known solar one. Easter always falls on the first Sunday following the full Moon (the Paschal Full Moon) after 21 March. If the Full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday.

When is the Easter Season?
The Easter Season begins on Easter Day and lasts 50 days, ending on Pentecost.

What happened on Easter Sunday?
It was on Easter Sunday that Jesus rose from death. Jesus had told his disciples before he was arrested that he would be crucified and on the third day he would rise from the dead. Sunday was the third day from Good Friday (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Day). The second day after Good Friday.

What has Passover got to do with Easter?
Easter and Passover always fall close to each other but they are not always at exactly the same time. For many centuries before Jesus' birth, the Jewish people had their own special spring festival, called Passover (Pesach).

Passover commemorates the time when God rescued the people of Israel from slavery and Moses led them out of Egypt. It is the Israelite's liberation from Egypt that led to the beginning of Judaism.

Jesus, a Jew, was crucified during Passover time and it is said that the Last Supper was a Passover seder (a ritual meal that commemorates the Biblical accounting of the Jews escape from Egyptian slavery). It is Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection that led to the start of Christianity.

Both Easter and Passover revolve around the idea of rebirth. Jesus is resurrected, or born again, and the slaves are reborn into freedom. Both festivals draw in the idea of birth or rebirth with Easter eggs and the hard-boiled eggs served on Passover.