Many Christian believers are now engaging in various religious practices as they observe the Holy Week, the last week of the 40-day Lenten season, which concludes on Black Saturday, April 15.
For many Christians, the Lenten season is that time of year when believers of the faith go on fasting and abstinence. However, there is more to the religious event than just depriving one's self of worldly pleasures.
The 40-day Lenten season officially begins on Ash Wednesday, which fell on March 1 this year. For the Catholic Christian churches, the Ash Wednesday involves the believers being marked with a cross on their forehead with ash from burned old Palm Sunday crosses .
On the whole, the Lenten season is regarded as a period of spiritual preparation to grow closer to God in time for Easter. While the date of the Lenten season varies from year to year, different Christian denominations have different dates when observing it. While the observance of the season officially began on March 1 this year, Eastern Orthodox started it on Feb. 27 this year through its practice called Clean Monday.
The Lenten season symbolizes the 40 days and nights that Jesus spent alone in the Judaean Desert being tempted by Satan that eventually led to His crucifixion and resurrection. Technically speaking, though, the Lenten season should last for 46 days if only all the Sundays after Ash Wednesday until Palm Sunday are not excluded from the count as they are considered "mini-Easter Sundays," which celebrate the victory of Christ over death.
For Western churches, the Lenten season officially ends on a Black Saturday, which falls on April 15 this year. However, the Eastern churches already celebrated the end of the Lenten season last April 7, a week before the Western church's Good Friday, which is the observance of the death of Christ.
Many Christians engage in various traditional Lenten season practices especially during the Holy Week, such as abstaining from meat products and other things that give them pleasure. While some Holy Week traditions are outright absurd, such as some devotees choosing to be crucified as an atonement for their sins, they are a clear display of their strong Christian faith.
