"For Christians, Lent is traditionally the forty-day period that starts with Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday.It is a time for fasting and penance, and one is required to eat sparingly during the entire period, except for Sundays. In 1996, however, Pope Paul VI relaxed these rules, after which fasting and abstinence were only obligatory on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. The observance of fasting and self-denial during Lent differs in the Protestant and Anglican churches, whose emphasis primarily on penitence."