Do Mormons celebrate Lent? Not officially, but some Mormons choose to.

I remember, for example, a friend who gives up sugar for Lent.

Another friend recently said she was going to give up discouragement for Lent.

Another Mormon woman, rather than giving up something for Lent, has given something to God, adding something to her life (like more meaningful, deliberate prayer) during this time of year to help bring her closer to Christ.

Even if Mormons don’t celebrate Lent in an institutionalized way, this Mormon blogger, in her post “A Mormon Look at Lent” notes that “members of the LDS Church have much in common with our Catholic friends.  … [A]ll who love Jesus Christ, and recognize Him as our personal Savior, have a deep desire to express our love in similitude of His Great Sacrifice.”

Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection are central to Mormon doctrine, so Easter is an important holiday to us doctrinally. Some Mormons mark the time up to Easter with activities that celebrate Christ for days or weeks before the holiday.  We’ve compiled many ideas and resources for preparing for and celebrating Easter here and here. The new Bible videos would be an excellent resource for celebrating Easter.

For more Easter ideas, see the following Mormon blogs and articles sharing ideas for preparing for Easter:

The Living Christ: A 30 Day Easter Countdown

(scroll down to see each day’s activities, including all the links, or see here for the Living Christ Easter Countdown in a PDF form)

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Activities for Young Children to Prepare for Easter

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Preparing for Easter: Ideas for Celebrating

This post has scriptures for each day of the week before Easter, compiled and shared by Eric Huntsman.

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Here’s another list of that outlines spiritual devotionals for the Lenten season (designed for families with young children) (found originally here by Julie, who now blogs here)