AWhat days do Lent fall on this year??

Both Catholic and Protestant churches recognize Lent, although the manner of observing it differs from church to church. Some eat just one meal a day during the full 40-day period preceding Easter. Others fast totally only on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. For some, Lent requires abstaining from meat, fish, eggs, and milk products.

Lent is supposedly based on Jesus’ 40-day fast after his baptism. Was he then establishing a ritual to be followed yearly? Not at all. This is evident from the fact that the Bible does not record any such practice among the early Christians. Lent was first observed in the fourth century after Christ. Like many other teachings of Christendom, it was borrowed from pagan sources.

If Lent is in imitation of Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness after his baptism, why is it observed during the weeks leading up to Easter—supposedly the time of his resurrection? Jesus did not fast during the days prior to his death. The Gospel accounts indicate that he and his disciples visited homes and ate meals in Bethany just a few days before he died. And he ate the Passover meal the night before his death.—Matthew 26:6, 7; Luke 22:15; John 12:2.

Ash Wednesday was on March 1, and Easter will be on April 16.