Traditions / customs leading up to Easter

Traditions/ customs leading up to Easter, Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent

Christians have developed and invented some rather strange practices and traditions that many hold firmly as being given by God!
I used the following scriptures. Romans 14:5-6; Romans 13:13-14; 2 Samuel 13:19; Job 2:8; Matthew 6:16-18; Esther 4:2-3; Jeremiah 6:26; Daniel 9:3; Romans 5:17.