[BillGreene]

Lent makes a virtue out of a necessity.

In times past most animals would have been killed in early winter and stored. This reduced the amount of fodder that needed to be grown and stored. By the time that early spring arrived a lot of stored food would have been consumed. The animals left alive, including wild animals, would be the breeding stock for the next year.

So, with little food left, the Church deemed that people should fast and that the amount of meat eaten should be as little as possible.