See Lent Calendar

When does Lent begin and when does it end?

What follows after Christmas, which according to the liturgical calendar ends on the Sunday, Baptism of the Lord, is seven weeks of Ordinary Time until the Lent season begins with Ash Wednesday.

Lent is forty days, in total when discounting the Sundays.

On the sixth Sunday, Holy Week begins, then starting with Maundy Thursday it is the Triduum period, ending with Easter Sunday. This marks the end of Lent.

The Easter season carries from Easter Sunday for fifty days ending on Pentecost Sunday, after which the second Ordinary Time begins, also know as Solemnities.

What is Lent about and why is it forty days?

Lent is counting the days coming up to Easter Sunday. The forty days represent the amount of days Jesus spent in the desert without food and is why Lenten sacrifices (fasting) are made during this time. It is not only about fasting, there is also special importance, during Lent, given to the practice of almsgiving.

'Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.' (Luke 4:1-13)