when does the 40 days of lent begin and end
Lent Lent (Latin: Quadragesima: Fortieth) is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later, before Easter Sunday. The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, doing penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins, almsgiving, and self-denial.[1] This event is observed in the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Methodist, and Catholic Churches.[2][3][4] Some Anabaptist and evangelical churches also observe the Lenten season.[5][6] Its institutional purpose is heightened in the annual commemoration of Holy Week, marking the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the tradition and events of the New Testament beginning on Palm Sunday, further climaxing on Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday, which ultimately culminates in the joyful celebration on Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Lord's Day In the first centuries, Sunday, being made a festival in honor of Christ's resurrection, received attention as a day of religious services and recreation, but seventh-day Sabbath rest (based on the Jewish Shabbat, because the earliest Christians were all Jews) was still observed by "almost all churches".[10][11] Often first-day worship (Sunday morning or Saturday night) was practiced alongside observance of seventh-day Sabbath rest[15] and was a widespread Christian tradition by the 2nd century, attested in patristic writings of the 2nd century;[16][17] over time, Sunday thus came to be known as Lord's Day. These early Christians believed that the resurrection and ascension of Christ signals the renewal of creation, making the day on which God accomplished it a day analogous to the first day of creation when God made the light. Some of these writers referred to Sunday as the "eighth day".