Students at St Joseph's Primary School are about to spend the next 40 days shunning their favourite things.
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But before they deny their cravings for sweet foods and soft drinks, the students observed the traditional day of indulgence on Shrove Tuesday.
"Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday when we give up things we like," said year 4 student Andy Englefield.
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This year, Andy will be giving up chocolate, as will classmate Nicola Baaten. Meanwhile, Violet Paton will be giving up cake.
"I eat cake every day, I actually just ate it at lunch today so it will be hard not to have it. I was saying on the bus I should give up capsicum because I don't even eat that, so it'd be easy," Violet said.
According to the Catholic tradition, Lent is observed leading up to the Easter octave and is symbolic of Jesus's withdrawal and denial in the desert.
"We do it because Jesus fasted for 40 days. He couldn't eat the things he liked, he could only eat whatever he could find in the desert," Violet said.
But even though the students are prepared to feel the pinch of sacrifice, there are things that are off-limits.
"My favourite foods are ice-cream and lasagna. It's impossible for me to give that up, I couldn't do it," Violet said.