Lent [Old Eng. lencten,=spring], Latin Quadragesima (meaning 40; thus the 40 days of Lent). In Christianity, Lent is a time of penance, prayer, preparation for or recollection of baptism, and preparation for the celebration of Easter. Observance of Lent is as old as the 4th cent. In Eastern churches it is reckoned as the six weeks before Palm Sunday. In the West the penitential season begins liturgically with Septuagesima, the ninth Sunday before Easter; the next Sundays are Sexagesima and Quinquagesima. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, the 40th weekday before Easter. Of the Sundays in Lent the fifth is Passion Sunday and the last is Palm Sunday. The week preceding Easter is Holy Week. Lent ends at midnight Holy Saturday. See Shrove Tuesday. From the 5th to 9th cent. strict fasting was required; only one meal was allowed per day, and meat and fish (and sometimes eggs and dairy) were forbidden. During and since the 9th cent. fasting restrictions were gradually loosened. By the 20th cent. meat was allowed, except on Fridays. Pope Paul VI began (1966) a trend toward penitential works (such as acts of charity) in conjunction with Lent. The Christian observance of Lent may have a parallel in the fasting practiced in Greco-Roman mystery religions, in which it was considered an aid to enlightenment and often preceeded prophecy. Lent may also have a parallel in the Jewish Omer, the interval between Passover and Shavuot that has become a time of semimourning and sadness. During the weeks of the Omer period, Jews in some communities refrain from wearing new clothes and there are no marriages or other public festivities.

Ecevit, Bülent, 1925-, Turkish political leader and journalist. An editor for Ulus, the organ of the Republican People's party, he was elected to parliament (1957-60 and again from 1961) and served (1961-65) as minister of labor. He was the Republican People's party's secretary-general from 1966 to 1971. In 1972, Ecevit succeeded Ismet Inönü as party chairman, promising a democratic-socialist program. In 1974 he became prime minister of a coalition government and established an independent, basically anti-European policy for Turkey. Following the overthrow in July, 1974, of the Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios III by the Greek officers of the Cypriot National Guard, Ecevit mobilized Turkish troops and invaded Cyprus to protect its Turkish minority. His action brought about the fall of the Greek Cypriot rebel government, and, indirectly, the fall of the junta in Greece. Strains in his coalition led to Ecevit's resignation in Sept., 1974. In 1978 he became prime minister again, but in 1980 Turkey experienced a military coup, and Ecevit was imprisoned. He later established the Democratic Left party, and in Dec., 1998, he was asked to form a caretaker government. Following elections held in Apr., 1999, he continued as prime minister, heading a coalition government. In office he reversed his earlier anti-Western stance and worked to draw Turkey nearer to the countries of the European Union. The elections of 2002 resulting in stunning loss for Ecevit and his party, and he retired from politics two years later.

In the Christian church, a period of penitential preparation for Easter, observed since apostolic times. Western churches once provided for a 40-day fast (excluding Sundays), in imitation of Jesus' fasting in the wilderness; one meal a day was allowed in the evening, and meat, fish, eggs, and butter were forbidden. These rules have gradually been relaxed, and only Ash Wednesday—the first day of Lent in Western Christianity, when the penitent traditionally have their foreheads marked with ashes—and Good Friday are now kept as Lenten fast days. Rules of fasting are stricter in the Eastern churches.

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