"The answer to the question of why no reference to fasting is that back in the fifth and six centuries when the Christian Year, with its Collects, Epistles and Gospels, was created, Lent began on the Sunday which was called Quadragesima for it was about 40 days before Easter...."
Still does begin on a Sunday in Orthodoxy, this year the Sunday before Ash Wednesday.
How could one ever possibly enter Lent without feeling thoroughly sick to the stomach from the pancakes and sausage ingested during the pancake supper the previous evening? *\;-|
(I start my penance early... *\;-)
Actually we are starting activities on Sunday too.