Lent in Reformation Germany

In her fascinating The Reformation of Ritual: An Interpretation of Early Modern Germany , Susan Karant-Nunn notes that Protestants in Germany continued to observe some traditional medieval Lenten prohibitions: “Night weddings, except for people of high rank, were widely prohibited. In Saxony, where they were permitted, the higher fees charged such couples for having the church bells run suggest that here too, only richer people availed themselves of the evening hours . . . . That they thought weddings in some measure incompatible with the spiritual life is verified by the almost universal prohibition opn marrying during Lent and Advent, continuation of Catholic proscriptions.”

I don’t endorse this practice at all. But it’s evidence that Lent continued to be observed in reformed Germany.