Lent

==== 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>