Lent is the known period of forty-six days, beginning from Ash Wednesday until the eve of Resurrection Sunday, during those days some Christian churches apply fasting and penances for the forty days that Jesus lasted in the desert. It is a period prior to the Easter days that the different fragments of the Bible symbolize, not only the retirement of Jesus but also that of Moses in the desert. It is also the constant reminder of the biblical flood, but also the forty years that the Jewish people wandered in the desert before reaching the promised land.
The Christian church catalogs Lent as a time of genuine repentance and exhumation of guilt, hence the penances. Many of the faithful take advantage of this celebration to be close to God and Jesus Christ. Both abstinence (not eating red meat) and fasting are customs during these days, these customs were sown since the fourth century as a process of renewal in Christianity and were taught for years to our present day, having a great boom in the countries Westerners.
Confession and prayer are also an influential part during this period. During the first years of this practice (Lent) the duration was indefinite, so sometimes it consisted of long weeks and other times it only lasted a few days. It currently lasts 6 full weeks before Easter Sunday, thus achieving the 40-day penance without interfering with one another. The last week of Lent is known as Holy Week, where penance for sins is a participant in the ceremony. In some regions it is customary to dress in purple, walk without shoes and carry a cross like Jesus Christ in his last hours of life as a representation of cleansing and purification.
The processions and celebration are also very common, where the faithful publicly promote their religious life, however, and despite the urging church fasting and doing good, they are also participants in inequality avoiding unbelievers are not sharers of the processions and other religious events typical of this religious festival.
