Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 February 1915 — Ash Wednesday Starts 40-Day Lenten Period. [ARTICLE]

Ash Wednesday Starts 40-Day Lenten Period.

Ash Wednesday 'will .usher in the season of Lent. Lent is -the period of forty days preceding Easter Sunday. It as a season given ,over to taking, meditation and prayer by the (devoutly inclined, and dates baek to the days of the early Christians, when they prepared for the celebration oif the (feast of the resurrection, Baster. The (forty days are marked by Special services dn the Catholic, Episcopalian and the Evangelical churches which observe Lent. (Many persons not devoted church members accept the Lenten season as a period of retreat or retirement, when they (forego social activities and refrain from the usual divertisements, such as theatre going, pleasure seeking, and the like. The last week of Lent, known as Easter iweek, is marked by three days of fasting, Wednesday, Thursday 'and Friday, when special services are held, preparatory to the feast' of Easter. Thi sis Shrove Tuesday. In the old countries it is a iday arid night of reveling and feasting marking the reildnquishing of -all pleasure for the next (forty days.