A few days after February 1, as I was walking down the sidewalk in eastern Massachusetts, near Boston, the sun broke through the clouds that had lingered since an earlier heavy snowfall.

The sky was a deep blue, and, for the first time this Northern winter, I felt its growing warmth on my face, the “turning of the tide” for the season of Northern winter.

I could feel that winter was waning, and spring was steadily approaching, despite any future cold snaps or snowstorms.

Winter’s turning point

Human life also follows differing rhythms. Some are set by our environment, like where we live on Earth’s surface, or by the movements of the sun and moon and their effects on the weather and tides.

We define our years by calendars, the rhythm of seasons into months, and our days into workdays, rest days, and holidays. Some rhythms are set by secular systems, such as the fiscal year, the academic year, or vacation weeks.

Others are determined by historical events in national or regional calendars, for example, Canada Day, Anzac Day, or Africa Day.

Many religions also acknowledge communal and individual rhythms, including times of rejoicing and quiet reflection. For both Jews and Christians, Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 offers this moving passage, beginning “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…”

As a Jewish person himself, Jesus too would have experienced these rhythms of human life during his time on earth.

The liturgical calendar

The rhythm of the Catholic Church’s liturgical year is set by the interaction of some of these patterns. Today, many are set by the Gregorian calendar, a general yearly solar calendar.

This calendar offers a reliable structure for specific feasts on set dates, like Christmas on December 25, the Assumption on August 15, or saints’ feast days (usually the dates of their deaths, their “birthday” into eternal life).

However, the date of Easter is set according to both a lunar and solar calendar. The events of Jesus Christ’s Last Supper, death, and resurrection are linked in all four gospels with the Jewish celebration of Passover.

Traditionally, the first sight of the crescent new moon marked the first day of each month in the Jewish liturgical calendar. Passover begins on 15 Nissan, in the spring season of the Northern hemisphere, at the full moon.

Since the date of the Passover holiday varies on the secular calendar, so does the date of Easter, although they may not overlap exactly.

Fasting and feasting

The joyous celebration of Easter follows a period of penance, fasting or abstaining from certain foods (like meat) and pleasures (like candy or going to the movies), and spiritual reflection: the 40 days of Lent. However, Lent is preceded by a period of feasting, rejoicing, and celebration, which varies across centuries and cultures.

Two special days mark the beginning of Lent: Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), marking the end of “ordinary” time, and Ash Wednesday, the ritual first day of Lent.

The rhythms of human life are expressed in these feasts and fasts. As we note the “turning tide” of the changing seasons, Lent offers quiet time for prayer to revive and renew the spiritual rhythm of life, both individually and communally.

May we all feel these rhythms more deeply as we walk the sidewalks of our own lives this year.

• Joanne M. Pierce, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita, Department of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA.