Articles and Stories

February 13, 2013

By Uta

Much has been written about Lent, its origins and its traditions, which seem to vary across religious denominations, geography and time. The main idea throughout is of a personal sacrifice such as a fast over a certain period of time, along with a prayerful aspect. It covers the 46 days before Easter and starts on Ash Wednesday, when some Christian ministers rub black ash crosses on the forehead of their congregants as a symbol of mourning and repentance.

In our family, after receiving the ashes, we follow the Catholic school rule: renouncing something important to us for forty six days.  (Whether exceptions can be made on Sundays is up to the judgment of the parents.)  Food items varying from sweets, such as bubble gum and soda, to alcoholic beverages and meat have made the list before. Video games and Facebook are other popular items. iPhones seem to be off limits and are by now probably considered a vital organ by many.

As proud as a parent can be of a teenager going through a certain amount of sacrifice for over six weeks in our society of abundance, the bigger accomplishment to me is becoming aware of how what we often take for granted is not needed. Not only is much of what we have unnecessary;  it tends to get in the way of a leaner, healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

The more we have and can buy the harder it is to go back and simplify. Yet world religions share the common idea of reducing, selflessness and self-sacrifice as part of the path to awareness and knowledge.

Being a Swiss-American business woman and linguist, I know that simplifying can work with economic growth targets as well, though it might imply redefining quantitative goals to become more qualitative.

And for the linguistic curiosity in you:

“The Teutonic word Lent, which we employ to denote the forty days’ fast preceding Easter, originally meant no more than the spring season. Still it has been used from the Anglo-Saxon period to translate the more significant Latin term quadragesima (French carême, Italian quaresima, Spanish cuaresma), meaning the "forty days", or more literally the "fortieth day".”

(Thurston, H. (1910). Lent. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 11, 2013 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09152a.htm).