For some Christians on campus, Lent is the holiest season of the year, but for many it boils down to giving up a favorite sweet or getting on the treadmill every morning.
Speech freshman Marites Cumba decided this year that rather than giving up that SAGA dessert, she would go to Blomquist Recreation Center every day.
And she kept to it, although exercising is not the only way she plans to celebrate the holiday.
Cumba, like many Northwestern students, has plans to spend Easter with her family.
Some students may spend the day helping younger siblings look for Easter eggs or eating brunch with family, but sometimes family traditions can overshadow the holiday itself, Cumba said.
“(Easter) is important, because if it wasn’t, I couldn’t say I was Catholic,” she said. “Anybody can celebrate, but it’s the meaning behind it that counts.”
Easter traditionally ends the Lenten season, a 40-day period that commemorates Jesus’ fasting before his crucifixion.
Lent is a time that celebrates the cornerstone of Christian belief — Jesus’ death and resurrection.
With Easter approaching, students and Christian organizations are finding ways to honor the holiday.
Both Sheil Catholic Center and Alice Millar Religious Center will hold stations of the cross, a ceremony that follows 14 moments in Jesus’ procession from when he was condemned to death to when he died on the cross, said Tim Stevens, university chaplain.
The ceremony will begin at Alice Millar and will be celebrated along with other Christian ministries.
The stations, traditionally held within a church, will take place outdoors, ending at Fountain Square in Evanston.
The celebration, now in its third year, usually draws about 90 to 100 students. The group will carry a cross with them from the start of the procession at 10 a.m. until it ends at noon, Stevens said.
Student organizations such as Catholic Undergraduates, a student group associated with Sheil, held a Christian interpretation of the Seder meal, a Jewish celebration of the first night of Passover, on Wednesday.
Students also participated in services on Holy Thursday.
“It’s neat not only to see people (at the Mass), but involved, as a reader or Eucharistic minister,” said Neela Kale, a Weinberg senior.
Sheil will also hold an Easter vigil Saturday at 9 p.m. After the vigil, the church will throw a party at which current members will break their Lenten fasts with members who were just baptized or confirmed at the vigil, Kale said.
Campus Crusade for Christ has been celebrating Holy Week with speakers and concerts, which led up to a speech on comparative religions by Keith Johnson at Coon Auditorium on Thursday.
Despite all the festivities Easter is more than just food and fun to many Christians on campus.
“This weekend is everything to a Christian,” said Collin Hansen, a Medill freshman.
