Lent

Ash Wednesday Date Varies (March 5th, 2014)
Roman Catholic Lent Begins 41 Days From Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday(March 5th, 2014)
Clean Monday, Start of Lent in Eastern and Orthodox Churches 

Mothering Sunday a.k.a. Laetare Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent

Care Sunday, also known as Ludica Sunday or Judica Sunday", Previously known as Passion Sunday and the beginning of a two-week-long period known as Passiontide, is the fifth Sunday in Lent (UK)

Palm Sunday 6th Sunday of Lent  

Great Lent

Great Lent, or the Great Fast, is the most important fasting season in the church year in Eastern Christianity, which prepares Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha (Easter). In many ways Great Lent is similar to Lent in Western Christianity. There are some differences in the timing of Lent (besides calculating the date of Easter) and how it is practiced, both liturgically in the public worship of the church and individually.

One difference between Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity is the calculation of the date of Easter (see Computus). Most years, the Eastern Pascha falls after the Western Easter, and it may be as much as five weeks later; occasionally, the two dates coincide. Like Western Lent, Great Lent itself lasts for forty days, but unlike the West, Sundays are included in the count. Great Lent officially begins on Clean Monday, seven weeks before Pascha (Ash Wednesday is not observed in Eastern Christianity) and runs for 40 contiguous days, concluding with the Presanctified Liturgy on Friday of the Sixth Week. The next day is called Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. However, fasting continues throughout the following week, known as Passion Week or Holy Week, and does not end until after the Paschal Vigil early in the morning of Pascha (Easter Sunday).

Lent

Lent (Latin: Quadragesima, "fortieth"[1]) is an observance in the liturgical year of many Christian denominations, lasting for a period of approximately six weeks leading up to Easter. In most Western denominations Lent is taken to run from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) or to Easter Eve.

The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial. Its institutional purpose is heightened in the annual commemoration of Holy Week, marking the death and resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events of the Passion of Christ on Good Friday, which then culminates in the celebration on Easter Sunday of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

During Lent, many of the faithful commit to fasting or giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence. The Stations of the Cross, a devotional commemoration of Christ's carrying the Cross and of his execution, are often observed. Many Roman Catholic and some Protestant churches bare their altars of candles, flowers, and other devotional offerings, while Crucifixes, religious statues, and other elaborate religious paraphernalia are often veiled in violet fabrics in observance of this event. In certain pious Catholic countries, grand processions and cultural customs are observed, and the faithful attempt to visit seven churches during Holy Week in honor of Jesus Christ heading to Mount Calvary.

Lent is traditionally described as lasting for forty days, in commemoration of the forty days which, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan.[2][3] However, different Christian denominations calculate the "forty days" of Lent differently. In most Western tradition the Sundays are not counted as part of Lent; thus the period from Ash Wednesday until Easter consists of 40 days when the Sundays are excluded. However in the Roman Catholic Church Lent is now taken to end on Holy Thursday rather than Easter Eve, and hence lasts 38 days excluding Sundays, or 44 days in total.

This event, along with its pious customs are observed by Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, as well as some Baptists and Mennonites.

There are several holy days within the season of Lent:

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent for Roman Catholics and most mainline Reformed and Protestant traditions.
Clean Monday (or "Ash Monday") is the first day of Lent in Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
There is no Ash Wednesday in the Ambrosian Rite, and Lent begins liturgically on what the Roman Rite regards as first Sunday in Lent. Traditionally, the fast began on the first Monday of Lent.
The Sundays in Lent carry Latin names in German Lutheranism, derived from the beginning of the Sunday's introit. The first is called Invocabit, the second Reminiscere, the third Oculi, the fourth Laetare, the fifth Judica. The sixth Sunday is Palm Sunday.

The fourth Sunday in Lent, which marks the halfway point between Ash Wednesday and Easter, is referred to as Laetare Sunday by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and many other Christians because of the traditional Entrance Antiphon of the Mass. Due to the more "joyful" character of the day (since laetare in Latin means "rejoice"), the priest (as well as deacon and subdeacon) has the option of wearing vestments of a rose colour (pink) instead of violet.

The fourth Lenten Sunday Mothering Sunday, which has become synonymous with Mother's Day in the United Kingdom, has its origin is a sixteenth century celebration of the Mother Church.
The fifth Sunday in Lent, also known as Passion Sunday (however, that term is also applied to Palm Sunday) marks the beginning of Passiontide
The sixth Sunday in Lent, commonly called Palm Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent immediately preceding Easter
Wednesday of Holy Week is known as Spy Wednesday to commemorate the days on which Judas spied on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane before betraying him
Thursday is known as Maundy Thursday, or Holy Thursday, and is a day Christians commemorate the Last Supper shared by Christ with his disciples
Good Friday follows the next day, on which Christians remember Jesus' crucifixion and burial

Most followers of Western Christianity observe Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday, and concluding on Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday)[3][7] or on Easter Eve.[8] The six Sundays in this period are often not regarded as being part of the observance (being termed Sundays in, rather than of, Lent), because each one represents a "mini-Easter," a celebration of Jesus' victory over sin and death.[2