Introduction
Lent is one of the most ancient seasons in the Christian calendar — forty days of repentance, fasting, prayer, and preparation for the great feast of Easter. It traces back to Jesus’ own forty days of fasting in the wilderness, and to the early church’s practice of preparing new believers for baptism.
But how Lent is lived differs enormously from one culture to another. Some communities enter it through an explosion of joy — a final feast before the fast. Others begin in solemn silence, with ashes on the forehead. Some fast with extraordinary strictness, whole communities giving up meat and dairy for weeks. Others structure their Lent around bodily pilgrimage, walking from church to church through the city.
What unites all of these is the same conviction: that the road to Easter passes through the wilderness, and that taking that road seriously — with our whole bodies, our communities, and our cultural identity — is an act of faith.
This page explores five culturally distinctive expressions of Lent, what each one carries as a gift for the whole church, and — where needed — where Christian discernment is called for.
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do… But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen.” — Matthew 6:16–18
The Latin term carnem levare — “to take away meat” — is the origin of the word Carnaval. It is the last chance to feast before Ash Wednesday begins the forty days of Lent. This celebration has continued for centuries across Latin America, taking on regional forms shaped by African, Indigenous, and European traditions. Wikipedia
In Colombia, the shift from Carnaval to Lent is visible and striking. After days of celebration, parades, and music in the streets, Ash Wednesday arrives and the entire tone changes. From costumes and blaring music, the transition moves to the silence of Mass. From collective celebration, the shift moves toward personal reflection. People, young and old, walk with a cross of ashes on their foreheads — and many who do not regularly attend church go on that day specifically to receive them. Wikipedia
This contrast — feast followed by fast, noise followed by silence — is actually profoundly biblical. The movement from Carnaval to Ash Wednesday enacts in the body what Lent asks of the soul: a turning. A leaving behind. A deliberately chosen emptiness.
The concern worth naming is that Carnaval in some contexts has drifted far from its Christian roots, becoming associated with excess that has little to do with joyful anticipation of a fast. For Christians, the question is not whether to celebrate before Lent, but how — and whether the celebration sharpens or dulls our hunger for God.
The gift for our worship: The drama of the turning. When Lent begins with intention and contrast — when the community actually marks the change — it carries much more weight. Our churches can create a clear, communal moment of entering Lent: a shared last meal or an act of laying something down together.
Key Scripture: Joel 2:12 (“‘Even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.'”)
Abiy Tsom, or the Fast of Great Lent in Ethiopia and Eritrea, is the longest and most intensive fast in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Christian calendar — lasting 55 days before Easter. It involves abstaining from meat, dairy, and eggs, and increasing participation in church services and other spiritual practices. It is seen as a time of spiritual cleansing and renewal, and is considered a crucial part of the Ethiopian Orthodox faith. Wikipedia
Fasting is central to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity with around 250 fasting days during the year, about 180 of them obligatory for laypeople. During Lent, although the diet excludes animal products entirely, it involves a wide range of dishes — including Siljo made from beans with mustard and pepper, Shembera of ground chickpeas in a hot stew, and hi/bet, a light creamy mixture made from lentils with fenugreek and sesame oil. PubMed Central
The final “Week of Pains” before Easter is marked by ten services every day, with specified readings from the Psalms, Gospels, the Miracles of Jesus and Mary, and recitals of hymns and poetry. After the long Lenten period, the Wednesday and Friday fasts are cancelled for 50 days until Pentecost — a communal exhale of joy after profound communal discipline. PubMed Central
There is nothing here requiring theological discernment — this is one of the most ancient and thoroughly Christian Lenten traditions in the world.
The gift for our worship: The communal and whole-life nature of fasting. In Ethiopia, Lent is not a private spiritual exercise — it reshapes the entire community’s diet, rhythm, and worship. Our churches can ask: what would it mean for our congregation to fast together? Not as a rule, but as a shared act of love and solidarity with Christ’s suffering.
Key Scripture: Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice… to share your food with the hungry?”
Clean Monday (Kathara Deftera) is the first day of Orthodox Great Lent. The name refers to the leaving behind of sinful attitudes and non-fasting foods. Liturgically, Lent begins the evening before at a special service called Forgiveness Vespers, which culminates in the Ceremony of Mutual Forgiveness — all present bow before one another and ask forgiveness. In this way, the faithful begin the fast with a clean conscience toward each other as well as toward God. WordPress
Clean Monday is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus. Communities go on outdoor excursions, eat elaborate fasting foods including shellfish, octopus, and lagana — an unleavened bread baked only on this day — and fly kites. The joyful, springtime atmosphere may seem at odds with a penitential season, but this is a marked feature of the Orthodox approach: fasting is entered with lightness, not heaviness. WordPress
Fasting in the Orthodox tradition teaches dependence on God. The first sin of Adam and Eve was eating from the forbidden tree; fasting from food is understood as a reminder that we are also to fast from sinning and doing evil. The needs of the body are nothing compared to the needs of the soul — fasting reorders that relationship. Saint Elisabeth Convent
The gift for our worship: The Forgiveness Vespers — beginning Lent by asking forgiveness of one another face to face. This is deeply biblical and almost entirely absent from most Western Lent practices. Our churches could introduce a moment of communal reconciliation at the start of Lent: a structured, liturgical opportunity to ask and grant forgiveness before entering the season of repentance.
Key Scripture: Matthew 5:23–24 “First go and be reconciled to your brother or sister; then come and offer your gift.”
Holy Week in the Philippines is the most solemn and meaningful period of the year. From Ash Wednesday all the way to Easter Sunday, Filipinos observe unique customs shaped by centuries of Spanish influence, local devotion, and communal practice. These traditions — from chanting the Pabasa to reenacting the Passion in Senákulo, visiting churches through Visita Iglesia, and participating in early morning Salubong rituals — are ways for believers to physically and communally engage with the story of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. Frazer Consultants
Visita Iglesia is one of the most beloved Holy Week traditions. On Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, families visit seven or sometimes fourteen churches, praying the Stations of the Cross at each stop. This tradition turns the day into a pilgrimage of prayer and quiet reflection — many families travel together, making it both a spiritual and cultural experience. Missionsinterlink
The Pabasa is a continuous chanting of the Pasyon — a verse narrative telling the story of Christ’s life, suffering, and sacrifice. In many towns, the chanting begins on Holy Monday and continues until Good Friday, day and night, with community members taking turns to keep it going. Missionsinterlink
Some Filipino Lenten expressions — particularly the practice of self-flagellation or crucifixion reenactments in certain communities — go beyond what the church encourages. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has consistently reminded the faithful that Christ’s suffering does not need to be physically replicated; it needs to be spiritually received. That said, these more extreme expressions arise from a place of profound devotion, and pastoral gentleness is more useful here than condemnation.
The gift for our worship: Pilgrimage as Lenten practice. The idea that Lent involves physically going somewhere — moving through the city, stopping at each station, carrying the story in your body. Our churches can invite people to walk the Stations of the Cross together as a Lenten community act, perhaps through the neighborhood rather than just inside the building.
Key Scripture: Lamentations 3:40 “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.”
In many African Catholic and Protestant communities, Lent is observed with a distinctive blend of communal accountability, bodily discipline, and expressive worship. The Fast of the Ninevites — based on the biblical story of Jonah and the city of Nineveh — is observed in Ethiopia and Eritrea as a model of community-wide repentance: an entire people turning to God together. Wikipedia
In many sub-Saharan African Christian communities, Lent is not a quiet, interior season — it is expressed through extended prayer vigils, communal fasting, and an intensification of song and dance as worship. Repentance in many African traditions is not primarily a private matter between the individual and God; it is enacted in the community, in the presence of others, sometimes with the laying on of hands or public declarations of turning.
This communal model of repentance aligns powerfully with the biblical picture: in Nehemiah, the entire people fast and confess together. In Joel, God calls the whole assembly to gather. The Western tendency to privatize repentance — to treat Lent as something between me and my journal — can miss this communal dimension entirely.
The gift for our worship: Repentance as a community act, not just a private one. Fasting done together, openly, with accountability and solidarity. Our churches can introduce communal confession into Lenten worship — not just personal prayer, but shared acknowledgment of what the community, as a body, needs to lay down and turn from.
Key Scripture: Joel 2:15–16 “Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people…”
Maslenitsa — Butter Week or Pancake Week — is the Russian celebration marking the end of winter and the approach of spring, held during the last week before Orthodox Lent. The festival features endless blini (pancakes) symbolizing the sun, sledding and snow games, visiting family and friends, and the burning of a straw effigy representing winter. Each of the seven days has its own name and tradition, ensuring that the celebration involves the entire community and that family bonds are strengthened before the fast begins. Keraneyo MedhaneAlem
The final day of Maslenitsa is Forgiveness Sunday — the community exchanges the words “Forgive me” and “God forgives,” clearing away resentments and restoring relationships before Lent begins. This structured week ensures that the transition from indulgence to fasting is gradual and communal, rather than abrupt and individual. Keraneyo MedhaneAlem
Maslenitsa has roots in pre-Christian Slavic spring festivals. After the Christianization of Russia, the Orthodox Church moved the celebration to precede Great Lent, allowing the blini to become a symbol of the last indulgence before strict abstinence. Unlike the folk tradition, in Orthodoxy the week before Lent is not simply a celebration — it is reserved for the faithful to prepare for penitence and strict abstinence. The burning of the effigy and some folk customs retain pagan associations that Christians in intercultural contexts may want to observe from a distance rather than adopt directly. ENA
The Great Fast itself is the strictest fasting season in the Russian Orthodox Church calendar. It lasts 48 days, and the faithful refrain from all animal products — no meat, dairy, eggs, or fish — throughout the entire period, with fish permitted only on the feasts of the Annunciation and Palm Sunday. The final Holy Week is the strictest: no animal products of any kind. Daily Tribune
But in the Russian Orthodox understanding, fasting is only the outer part of Lent. The deeper invitation is to simplify life, cut back on entertainment, take on good things, set aside time for extra prayer and study, and take what is saved by eating less and give it to the needy. GMA News Online
The gift for our worship: Forgiveness Sunday — the practice of formally asking and granting forgiveness within the community before entering Lent. This is one of the most pastorally powerful Lenten practices in any tradition. Our churches can introduce a simple version of this: a moment in the service, or in small groups, where people turn to one another and say “Forgive me” before the season of repentance begins.
Key Scripture: Matthew 6:14–15 “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
The Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt fasts between 210 and 240 days per year — more than any other major Christian denomination except the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This means that Coptic Christians abstain from all animal products for up to two-thirds of each year. Global Highlights
Before Easter, the Great Lent lasts 55 days. The final week — Holy Week — is the holiest time of the year in every Coptic household. During this week, devout Copts abstain from all animal products including meat, dairy, eggs, and fish, as well as oil and wine on certain days. Transparent Language
Holy Week has a uniquely solemn atmosphere in Coptic churches. Since the services focus on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, a general funeral prayer is held following Palm Sunday mass. Black veils are draped over the walls and along the columns of the church, and the house of worship enters an atmosphere of mourning. Agnesinversiones
During Holy Week, prayers are held three times a day, and on the night of Good Friday, worshippers spend the entire night at church. At ancient desert monasteries such as Wadi El Natrun and St. Anthony’s Monastery — where Christian monasticism was born — monks maintain 24-hour prayer vigils. Good Friday services begin at 9am, continue until 3pm (the hour of Christ’s death), and resume from 6 to 9pm. Worshippers hold unlit candles, symbolizing the world without Christ, until the moment of resurrection is proclaimed. Catholic Digestlamus dworski
What makes it distinct from Ethiopia: The Coptic tradition carries the particular weight of Egypt’s desert monastic heritage — the tradition of the Desert Fathers, where Christian fasting and contemplation were born. The church’s use of the ancient Coptic language in liturgy, the dramatic veiling of the church in black, and the overnight Good Friday vigil give Coptic Lent a distinctly ancient, almost otherworldly gravitas.
The gift for our worship: The embodied experience of mourning before resurrection. The Coptic tradition does not rush to Easter — it sits in the darkness of Good Friday, through the night, until the light comes. Our churches can reclaim the sacred rhythm of waiting in the dark, through extended Good Friday services, candlelit vigils, and the deliberate stripping of decoration before Easter morning.
Key Scripture: Romans 6:4 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
Some suitable songs
- Salib The cross
Original language: Persian
The cross as central lent symbol - Qat mata bissalieb My great love died
Original language: Arabic
Good Friday; the price of love - Abi ravan saz My heart is so dry
Original language: Persian
Honest prayer in time of dryness - Amightar kami amightar Deeper, even deeper
Original language: Persian
Longing and hunger for more of God - Mesle Barane Bahari Like spring rain
Original language: Persian
The Holy Spirit who comes; hope in time of lent - O malitwa O prayer
Original language: Russian
Prayer as lent a Russian tradition - Dowart Ketir My life is Yours
Original language: Arabic
Surrender and dedication — the beginning of Lent
A note on how we read these traditions
Lent is one of the most ancient and widely observed seasons in Christian history — and one of the most diverse. The traditions on this page range from the 55-day vegan fasts of the Coptic churches to the joyful pre-Lent festivals of Russia and Latin America.
All of these traditions are, at their core, Christian. Unlike some of the practices explored on our Death & Remembrance page, the Lenten customs here do not generally require the kind of theological discernment that asks “does this belong in Christian worship?” They already are Christian worship.
What they do invite is a different question: which of these practices can enrich our own congregation’s Lent?
We have noted where traditions carry folk or pre-Christian elements — such as some aspects of Maslenitsa — that Christians may want to receive selectively. And we recognize that the strictness of fasting in the Eastern traditions is not a rule we are imposing on anyone; it is an invitation to consider how seriously, and how communally, we take the season of preparation.
Above all, this page is an act of gratitude. These ancient communities have kept Lent faithfully for centuries, often under persecution. The Coptic Church has fasted its way through Roman rule, Islamic conquest, and modern hostility. The Russian church kept Lent alive under Soviet atheism.
We receive their practices with humility and respect — as gifts from brothers and sisters in the one body of Christ, who have kept the road to Easter open for all of us.