1. Lent is a Christian tradition dating back to before the fourth century. Lent – derived from a word meaning “spring” – was a time of year used as preparation for the feast of Easter. Athanasius wrote a series of letters to the churches concerning feasts and other topics. He mentions a forty-day fast preceding Easter in the second festal letter in 330 AD. Ten years later, in 340 AD, Athanasius wrote to churches in Egypt instructing them to “proclaim the fast of forty days to the brethren, an……