Symbols in Lent

Talking to our children about Lent means first understanding the history and meaning behind why it is celebrated. Two important teaching tools we use are symbols and story. The desert experience recalls the forty years the Israelites wandered before entering the Promised Land, and the forty days Jesus spent in the desert before his earthly ministry began.

Water is an important symbol in Lent, a season when we work towards a renewal of our baptism in Christ. It’s a good time to talk to children about baptism — how water is poured over the head as a symbol of dying to life without Christ and being raised to new life with him, echoing John the Baptist’s baptism of Jesus in the Jordan.

Ashes remind us that we are made from dust, and symbolise our mortality and our need for forgiveness, humility and purification.

Fish are a symbol of Lent, calling us to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and to abstain from meat on Fridays through the season.

Violet or purple is the sombre colour of Lent, signifying humility, repentance and suffering alongside Christ.

Thorns remind us of physical suffering, loneliness and injustice in the world.

Money symbolises the Lenten practice of almsgiving — as the book of Tobit puts it, prayer and fasting are good, but better still is generosity joined with righteousness.