Ember days

Ember days (quarter tense in Ireland), also known as Embertide, are quarterly periods of prayer and fasting in the liturgical calendar of Western Christian churches. The term comes from Old English: ymbren, possibly derived from Latin: quatuor tempora, lit. 'the four times'. These fasts traditionally take place on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the weeks following St Lucy's Day (13 December), Quadragesima (the first Sunday in Lent), Pentecost (Whitsun), and Holy Cross Day (14 September), though some areas follow a different pattern. Ember-day rituals may focus on "humiliation and prayer". Ordination ceremonies often take place on Ember Saturdays or the following Sunday.

The Catholic Church de-emphasised the observance of Ember days with the 1966 reforms. Ember days feature in other Western Christian church traditions, such as in Evangelical Lutheranism and Anglicanism, where the Book of Common Prayer provides for the Ember days, in practice observed in different ways. In Evangelical Lutheranism, Ember days have traditionally featured instruction in the catechism, fasting, prayer, and receiving confession and absolution.

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