A lot of this has been pulled together and adapted from many sources. Many of the ideas were Catholic and have been adopted to fit a more Lutheran piety.
Ideas in no particular order:
- Lenten candelabrum. The Catholic version of this utilizes the stations of the cross, but we will change the number of candles to seven and use the seven words of Jesus from the passion accounts. As we read the accounts and come to words that Jesus spoke from the cross we'll let each child take a turn blowing out a candle. The darkness at the end is meant to symbolize the loss of the light of Christ.
- Lenten centerpiece. Kind of a similar idea to the Advent wreath, only for Lent. It's a cross shaped candle holder made out of wood- I've read that the best is to use the stump from the Christmas tree, but ours is fake so that's a no go. You tie a purple ribbon around the middle and place six candles in it- one for every Sunday in Lent. You can light the appropriate number nightly to track progress through the Lenten season. Ideally this would be done during family devotional time, which would probably include the previous idea, as well.
- Purple cloth. I'll change out the cloths underneath items in the home to purple- the color for the church season.
- Purple bean poster. The one that I read about used lima beans, liquid RIT dye, and then a poster with the outline of a cross. Children get beans throughout the week for some type of even that I haven't fully pinned down yet, and then on Fridays get to glue the beans into the outline of the cross. My husband suggests memory work as the bean earners, but I don't know what it'll be yet.
- Plants. Apparently it's pretty customary to plant things in Lent. I'm going to get seeds and have the kids plant some tomatoes or something inside and we'll watch them grow throughout the season.
- Hot cross buns. These are usually a breakfast item on Good Friday.
Anyone else doing anything for Lent?
Great ideas. We have made hot cross buns before but haven't done anything else you suggested. We are usually so busy during Lent adding in another church service during the week and lunch afterwards (and I usually have to bring something to lunch) adds more to our schedule than you think it would. I try to be strict about not "decorating" for Easter (put out bunnies etc.) or decorating Easter eggs until Easter Monday. We also make homemade fondant and decorate cupcakes with it AFTER Easter. I think I'm so into not doing Easter during Lent that perhaps we should also do some of these Lent activities that you suggest. I really like the idea of planting during Lent and then perhaps it will be big enough to plant outside when the snow actually melts here.
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