The Season of Lent is a forty-day period before Easter.  It begins on Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday before Easter.  Because Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, we skip over Sundays when we calculate the length of Lent.

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance.  It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual imitates Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.

The color used in the sanctuary for most of Lent is purple, red violet, or dark violet. These colors symbolize both the pain and suffering leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus.   But purple is also the color of royalty, and so anticipates the hope of newness that will be celebrated in the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Ash Wednesday is the first day of the Season of Lent. Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshipers' heads or foreheads as a sign of humility before God. Ash Wednesday is a somber day of reflection.

Holy Week is the last week of Lent, the week immediately preceding Easter Sunday.   It is observed in many Christian churches as a time to commemorate and enact the suffering (Passion) and death of Jesus through various observances and services of worship.

The entire week between Palm Sunday and Holy Saturday is included in Holy Week, and some church traditions have daily services during the week. However, usually only Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday are times of special observance in most churches.

Palm Sunday (or Passion Sunday) observes the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem that was marked by the crowds, who were in Jerusalem for Passover, waving palm branches and proclaiming him as the messianic king.

Traditionally, worshipers enact the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem by the waving of palm branches and singing songs of celebration. Sometimes this is accompanied by a processional into the church.

This Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday to commemorate the beginning of Holy Week and Jesus' final agonizing journey to the cross.   The English word passion comes from a Latin word that means "to suffer."

Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday) marks the last day before Jesus was arrested and is observed in various ways in services of worship. These include the last meal together, which was probably a Passover meal, the institution of Eucharist or Communion, the betrayal by Judas.

Friday of Holy Week has been traditionally been called Good Friday. On this day, the church commemorates Jesus' arrest, his trial, crucifixion and suffering, death, and burial.