Students avoid favorites as Lent draws to a close

Picture 40 days and 40 nights with no caffeine, no chocolate, perhaps even no sex.

   

  But the end is in sight.

   

  This upcoming weekend, millions of Christians will be able to enjoy the indulgences they sacrificed for Lent, the weeks in March and    

  April between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.

   

  During these weeks, many Duke Christians join in the centuries-old traditions of Lent. While some students practicing the faith at the University give up a habit or treat, others use the time for spiritual reflection and personal growth.

   

  "I try to give up something for Lent every year," said Vanessa Drumm, a senior and Catholic. "I gave up using swear words this year and that hasn't gone so well. But other years I've given up chocolate or candy and never cheated."

   

  Sophomore Mike Holliday said soda was the thing to go for him.

   

  "I never drank that many sodas until a few weeks before Lent began when I started drinking [soda] a lot," Holliday said. "I decided that it was a good time to give it up."

   

  Lenten practices abound in entertainment as well. In the movie "Forty Days and Forty Nights," a young man vows to give up all forms of sex as a personal test of his will. Although measures that extreme have not been reported on campus this year, Hodges-Copple said most people are quiet about what they have given up as part of the Lenten discipline.

   

  Other forms of entertainment, including the popular book and movie "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" mentioned tips on ways to skirt the rules of Lent. In the novel, the characters give up alcohol for Lent by quitting cold turkey, drinking only on Sundays or drinking any day except Sunday and when outside of the parish.

   

  Holliday said some people allow themselves to indulge on Sundays, but said he tries not to.

   

  "I actually drank a Ginger Ale on Sunday by accident, but that was the only time I've broken my promise," Holliday admitted.

   

  The practice of not eating meat on Fridays is also common among Christians participating in Lent. But even this rule can be bent if you are not yet confirmed.

   

  "[Fridays give] me a chance to eat fish, which is acceptable," said Holliday, "and since I like fish it's not that big of a problem."

So why give up something for Lent, especially something you love?

   

  "I think it used to be more non-religious based for me, but now it's more thinking about what Jesus sacrificed and how he suffered. I fasted for Ash Wednesday and thought that was hard but [then] went to see the 'The Passion of Christ,'" Holliday said. "It makes you feel contrite about his suffering."

   

  For others, Lent is a given annual practice." It is more that my family practices Catholicism, and Lent has always been a time of sacrifice," Drumm said. "I don't even really think about it. I just try to give something up every year."