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Lent
Lent
Also called: Great Lent (Orthodox), Cuaresma (Spanish), Carême (French), Fastenzeit (German), Great Fast, Medz Bahk (Armenian), Hudade (Ethiopian)
5 April 2026
All Christians
Lent is a bit like a 40-day New Year's resolution — except it's about getting closer to God, not going to the gym. Starting on Ash Wednesday (or Clean Monday in Orthodox churches), Christians pray more, give to charity, or give up chocolate, social media, or meat.
Orthodox Lent is stricter and longer; Ethiopian Lent can last 55 days. The season remembers Jesus's 40 days in the wilderness.
If you want space to take Lent seriously away from everyday distractions, Eden lists quiet UK retreat centres.
At a glance
- Type
- liturgical season
- Date type
- Moveable (changes with Easter)
- Regions
- Global
- Themes
- Penitence & Fasting, Baptism Preparation, Passion & Death
- Liturgical colour
- Purple/Violet
Common questions
Lent is observed on 5 April 2026. Moveable feasts shift each year; fixed feasts stay on the same calendar date.
A solemn season of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving in preparation for Easter. In Western Christianity, Lent spans 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (Sundays are not counted as fasting days). In Eastern Orthodox tradition, Great Lent begins on Clean Monday and is stricter, involving abstinence from meat, dairy, fish, oil, and wine on most days, lasting 7 weeks. Ethiopian Orthodox Lent (Hu
It is associated with All Christians. It falls in the Lent season of the liturgical year.