Lent

=== Prayer and devotion ===
A common practice is the singing of the [[Stabat Mater]] hymn in designated groups. Among [[Catholic Church in the Philippines|Filipino Catholics]], the recitation of the epic of Christ' passion, called ''[[Pasiong Mahal]]'', is also observed. In many Christian countries, grand religious processions and cultural customs are observed,<ref>{{cite web |title=What Are the Main Worship Services during Lent and Holy Week? |url=https://anglicancompass.com/what-are-the-main-worship-services-during-lent-and-holy-week/ |publisher=Anglican Compass |access-date=13 April 2022 |language=English |date=20 February 2020 |quote=If you are new to Lent, you can go to any Anglican, Lutheran, or Roman Catholic Church on Ash Wednesday. […] Many services on Palm Sunday begin with “the Procession of the Palms,” where worshipers hold palm branches as they process into the church.}}</ref> such as the [[Stations of the Cross]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Stations of the Cross to return to Calvary UMC |url=https://www.newstribune.info/story/news/2022/04/12/stations-cross-return-calvary-umc/7282990001/ |publisher=[[Mineral Daily News-Tribune]] |access-date=13 April 2022 |language=English |date=12 April 2022 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> A custom of [[Seven Churches Visitation|visiting seven churches]] during Holy Week to pray the Stations of the Cross and praying at each church, exists and has been done in an ecumenical context, involving Christians of the Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal and [[Salvation Army|Salvationist]] traditions, among others.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stations of the Cross Walk returning to Parkersburg |url=https://www.newsandsentinel.com/news/community-news/2022/04/stations-of-the-cross-walk-returning-to-parkersburg/ |publisher=[[The Parkersburg News and Sentinel]] |access-date=13 April 2022 |language=English |date=5 April 2022}}</ref>

==== Omission of Gloria and Alleluia ====
The ''[[Gloria in excelsis Deo]]'', which is usually said or sung on Sundays at [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] (or Communion) of the [[Roman Rite|Roman]], [[Lutheran]] and [[Anglicanism|Anglican rites]], is omitted on the Sundays of Lent (as well as Sundays of Advent), but continues in use on [[solemnity|solemnities]] and [[Ranking of liturgical days in the Roman Rite|feasts]] and on special celebrations of a more solemn kind.<ref name="Block2019">{{cite web |last1=Block |first1=Mathew |title="Glory to God in the Highest" - Where Did it Go? |url=https://ilc-online.org/2019/12/24/glory-to-god-in-the-highest-where-did-it-go/ |publisher=[[International Lutheran Council]] |access-date=17 March 2021 |language=English |date=24 December 2019}}</ref><ref>[[General Instruction of the Roman Missal]], 53</ref> Some [[Mass (music)|Mass compositions]] were written especially for Lent, such as Michael Haydn's ''[[Missa tempore Quadragesimae (Michael Haydn)|Missa tempore Quadragesimae]]'', without Gloria, in D minor, and for modest forces, only choir and organ. The Gloria is used on [[Maundy Thursday]], to the accompaniment of bells, which then fall silent until the ''Gloria in excelsis'' of the [[Easter Vigil]].<ref>Roman Missal, Thursday of the Lord's Supper, 7</ref>

The Lutheran [[Divine Service (Lutheran)|Divine Service]], the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Churches, and the Presbyterian service of worship associate the ''[[Alleluia]]'' with joy and omit it entirely throughout Lent,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Why_don't_we_use_alleluias_during_Lent.pdf|title=Why don't we use alleluias during Lent?|year=2013|publisher=[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]|language=en|access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="Jr.2002">{{cite book|last=Weaver|first=J. Dudley Jr.|title=Presbyterian Worship: A Guide for Clergy|year=2002|publisher=Geneva Press|language=en |isbn=978-0664502188|page=106|quote=The alleluia is traditionally not sung during Lent, and, here at the first service of Easter, it is at last reintroduced to the church's liturgy.}}</ref> not only at Mass but also in the [[canonical hours]] and outside the liturgy. The word "Alleluia" at the beginning and end of the Acclamation Before the [[Gospel (liturgy)|Gospel]] at Mass is replaced by another phrase.

Before 1970, the omission began with [[Septuagesima]], and the whole Acclamation was omitted and was replaced by a [[Tract (liturgy)|Tract]]; and in the [[Liturgy of the Hours]] the word "Alleluia", normally added to the ''[[Gloria Patri]]'' at the beginning of each Hour – now simply omitted during Lent – was replaced by the phrase ''Laus tibi, Domine, rex aeternae gloriae (Praise to you, O Lord, king of eternal glory)''.

Until the [[Ambrosian Rite]] was revised by Saint [[Charles Borromeo]] the liturgy of the First Sunday of Lent was festive, celebrated with chanting of the Gloria and Alleluia, in line with the recommendation in Matthew 6:16, "When you fast, do not look gloomy."<ref name=Thouret/><ref name="RC-en-lent-duration"/><ref name=Initii/>

In the [[Byzantine Rite]], the Gloria ([[Great Doxology]]) continues to be used in its normal place in the [[Matins]] service, and the Alleluia appears all the more frequently, replacing "God is the Lord" at Matins.

==== Veiling of religious images ====
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Minister prostrates at the start of United Methodist Good Friday liturgy.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|A Methodist minister [[Prostration|prostrates]] at the start of the [[Good Friday]] liturgy at Holy Family Church, in accordance with the rubrics in the [[The United Methodist Book of Worship (1992)|Book of Worship]]. The [[processional cross]] is veiled in black, the liturgical colour associated with Good Friday in Methodist Churches.]]
[[File:Lenten shrouds.jpeg|thumb|upright=0.9|Statues and icons veiled in violet shrouds for [[Passiontide]] in [[St Pancras Church, Ipswich]], England]]
[[File:StMartin43-53.JPG|thumb|left|upright=0.9|A [[crucifix]] on the high altar is veiled for Lent. Saint Martin's parish, [[Württemberg]], Germany]]
In certain majority-[[Christian state]]s, in which liturgical forms of Christianity predominate, religious objects were traditionally veiled for the entire 40 days of Lent. Though perhaps uncommon{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} in the United States of America,{{relevant inline|date=March 2024}} this practice is consistently observed in [[Goa, India|Goa]], Malta, Peru, the Philippines (the latter only for the entire duration of Holy Week, with the exception of processional images), and in the Spanish cities: [[Barcelona]], [[Málaga]], and [[Seville]]. In Ireland, before [[Vatican II]], when impoverished rural Catholic convents and parishes could not afford purple fabrics, they resorted to either removing the statues altogether or, if too heavy or bothersome, turned the statues to face the wall. As is popular custom, the 14 [[Stations of the Cross]] plaques on the walls are not veiled.

Crosses were often adorned with jewels and gemstones, the form referred to as ''Crux Gemmata''. To keep the faithful from adoring elaborately-ornamented crucifixes, churches began veiling them in purple fabrics. The violet colour later came to symbolize penance and mourning.

Further liturgical changes in modernity reduced such observances to the last week of [[Passiontide]]. In parishes that could afford only small quantities of violet fabrics, only the heads of the statues were veiled. If no violet fabrics could be afforded at all, then the religious statues and images were turned around facing the wall. Flowers were removed as a sign of solemn mourning.

In the [[Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965)|pre-1992 Methodist liturgy]] and pre-1970 forms of the Roman Rite, the last two weeks of Lent are known as [[Passiontide]], a period beginning on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, which in the 1962 edition of the [[Roman Missal]] is called the First Sunday in Passiontide and in earlier editions Passion Sunday. All statues (and in England paintings as well) in the church were traditionally veiled in violet. This was seen as in keeping with John 8:46–59, the Gospel of that Sunday, in which Jesus "hid himself" from the people.

Within many churches in the United States of America, after the Second Vatican Council, the need to veil statues or crosses became increasingly irrelevant and was deemed unnecessary by some [[diocesan]] bishops. As a result, the veils were removed at the singing of the [[Gloria in Excelsis Deo]] during the Easter Vigil. In 1970, the name "Passiontide" was dropped, although the last two weeks are markedly different from the rest of the season, and continuance of the tradition of veiling images is left to the discretion of a country's conference of bishops or even to individual parishes as pastors may wish.

On [[Good Friday]], the Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist churches traditionally veiled "all pictures, statutes, and the cross are covered in mourning black", while "the chancel and altar coverings are replaced with black, and altar candles are extinguished." The fabrics are then "replaced with white on [[sunrise]] on [[Easter Sunday]]."<ref>{{cite web|last=Bratcher|first=Dennis|title=The Days of Holy Week|url=http://www.crivoice.org/cyholyweek.html|publisher=CRI|year=2015}}</ref>