The first day of Lent was abuzz this year with the opening of the movie "The Passion of the Christ." For many students, however, it marked the beginning of a more personal event: the annual abstention from a vice or item of luxury.
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts 40 weekdays, until Palm Sunday. According to the teachings of the Catholic Church, this time honors Jesus' period of fasting and praying in the wilderness before beginning to convey his message to others.
Many students at the University are observing Lent by giving up a cherished item for the 40 days. Some do this primarily because of religious responsibility, while others -- who are perhaps not even Catholic -- have other incentives to join in.
First-year College student Bekah Olinde is giving up AOL Instant Messenger. Olinde, who is Catholic, said religion is her primary drive for refraining from using this extremely popular mode of communication.
"Somebody else, who's also Catholic, is also giving up AIM, and I heard him talk about it," Olinde said. "I decided it's probably a good thing for me too because I know that AIM is really distracting."
Olinde said several other students, when they heard the idea, decided to abstain from AIM as well. As a result, a sizeable number of people are now giving up using the program temporarily.
"Its not a group as in we all decided together, it's kind of like a chain of ideas," Olinde said.
Though she could not pinpoint a precise number of hours she spends chatting away and checking away messages, Olinde said she uses AIM "enough that giving this up will make things a lot more productive."
Since she is avoiding AIM for religious reasons, however, Olinde said she aspires to gain spiritually from the experience -- and not simply use her newfound free time for secular activities.
"I hope to get more time out of it that I can spend maybe praying and doing stuff that will help me prepare for Easter," Olinde said.
Many students may sympathize with Olinde for taking on this weighty task. But Olinde was prepared; she said she was well aware of the challenge before her.
"It probably will be really hard because I have such a hard time of avoiding it -- I'll have to take AIM off my dock so I don't have to look at it," Olinde said.
Yet, if she succeeds, she will have accomplished what may be, in many students' eyes, a tremendous feat.
"I haven't really talked to many people outside of the Catholic community about it," Olinde said, "But for the most part people have either said it's a really great idea, or something like, 'I couldn't do it, because this is how I communicate with my friends back home.'"
The latter response is also why Olinde doesn't plan on remaining AIM-free.
"Past Easter I don't see a need to continue giving it up," Olinde said. "Hopefully [Lent] will dampen my use of AIM, but it's still a form of communication for me so I'm not going to give it up completely."
Other students steered towards the world of food, so plentiful in its temptations, when choosing something to give up.
First-year College students and suitemates Liz O'Connor, Kelly Shannon, Kat Hutson and Tam Le are all giving up a personally-defined range of items that they refer to as "sweets."
O'Connor, who is Catholic, explained her rationale for honoring this tradition.
"One of the ideas is to deepen your relationship with God and make yourself a better person," she said.
Shannon isn't Catholic, so she is not expected to give up something. But she is a religious Episcopalian, which she said is the closest Protestant denomination to Catholicism.
Shannon added that there are reasons aside from the religious that make refraining from eating sweets worthwhile.
"It's a good thing in general, not only for health concerns but for willpower," Shannon said.
Hutson said it's a "proactive" thing to do, while O'Connor cited yet another motivation.
"A lot of people do it because it's before Spring Break," she said. But, she quickly qualified that by repeating that religion is still the number one reason.
Their suitemate, Le, isn't Catholic or even Christian -- she's Buddhist. But for good measure, she also planned to give up chocolate, though she said she didn't think she'll be able to hold out.
She suggested an alternative: "Maybe I'll just give up my boyfriend for Lent," she said. "I'll pick him over chocolate."
O'Connor sounded more decisive.
"It's going to be pretty hard but I think I can do it," she said.
Shannon explained that technically, Sundays don't count as days of Lent, so one is permitted to indulge. Still, she said, "I'm not doing the whole Sunday business." Her suitemates agreed it would be difficult to stay on track if they took days off.
Nevertheless, Shannon is allowing herself one exception. Her birthday is Friday, and in her words, "God would want me to have cake."
The suitemates agreed that by giving up the same thing, they'll motivate each other.
"There will be solidarity!" O'Connor said, laughing.
The suitemates also admitted that simply keeping the forbidden items out of sight is extremely helpful. By joining efforts, they not only motivate each other but also limit the amount of temptation-contents in the suite.
"If you brought one of those Harris Teeter chocolate cakes, I might have to have some," O'Connor said.
Lent concludes April 3. Until then, don't expect to see these students online or at Arch's.
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