Lent is kept most fully in the liturgical traditions, Roman Catholic, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist, while many other Protestant bodies observe it lightly or not at all, reflecting a Reformation-era wariness of mandated fasts seen as unscriptural human tradition rather than divine command. Even among those who keep it, practice varies considerably: Eastern Orthodox Great Lent traditionally prescribes abstention from meat, dairy, and, on most days, fish and oil, a stricter and more sustained fast than the more limited abstinence and voluntary self-denial typical of contemporary Western Catholic practice, which today generally asks fasting only on a small number of specific days.
Its rhythm of self-denial as preparation for a feast parallels fasting disciplines in other religions, such as the Muslim month of Ramadan, though Lent is tied specifically to the commemoration of Christ's passion and resurrection and is a matter of church custom and discipline rather than binding divine command in most traditions that observe it, a difference in theological status, custom versus command, that itself reflects Lent's distinct historical development compared to fasts commanded directly in scripture.