While Shrove Tuesday is best known for sweet pancakes heavily laden with sugar and chocolate spread the next six weeks are when some of us repent and give up on the sweet stuff.
Others choose to ditch the booze, take-aways or cigarettes in the period preceding Easter.
But why do we call the first day Ash Wednesday? Here is everything you need to know about Lent.
Where does the name Ash Wednesday come from?
While many of us simply start abstaining from our treat of choice the day after Shrove Tuesday, the first day of Lent is traditionally marked in church. During the service members of the congregation have crosses drawn on their heads by the clergy, using ash. Sometime ash is sprinkled over their head instead.
Palm leaves from the Palm Sunday service the previous year are burnt to make the ash.
What is Lent?
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the period when Christians give up rich foods including meat and dairy. However, these days many people simply give up their favourite treats.
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Lent commemorates Jesus Christ who in the Bible spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert being tempted by Satan.
Lent lasts from Ash Wednesday, which this year is on Feb 26, lasts until Good Friday, April 10.
