.The name Ash Wednesday derives from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads
.Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, occurring six and a half weeks before Easter.
. Is a solemn reminder of human mortality and the need for reconciliation with God and marks the beginning of the penitential Lenten season.
Catholics Christians all over the world will be observing Ash Wednesday today as other Christians will be going out for Valentine dates.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, occurring six and a half weeks before Easter.
The day is a solemn reminder of human mortality and the need for reconciliation with God and marks the beginning of the penitential Lenten season. It is commonly observed with ashes and fasting.
Ash Wednesday is considered a holy day of prayer and fasting.
The lent season runs up to 40 days. The day is marked by Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians.
During this period, believers fast and repent, some denominations focus on the abstinence of meat although it is now extended into people giving up some of their favourite things and certain habits.
Lent season this year has begin on February 14 and will end on April 2.
According to Wikipedia, the name Ash Wednesday derives from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads of participants to either the words “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or the dictum “Remember that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return.”
Lent is a solemn religious observance in the Christian liturgical calendar that ends approximately six weeks on Holy Thursday, the memorial of the Lord’s supper the Thursday of Holy Week before Easter Sunday.
The ashes are prepared by burning palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations.
Clergy all over the world dispense the ashes while making the sign of the cross on the bowed foreheads before them.
Ashes were also used in the past to express grief.
According to Samuel 13:19, when Tamar was raped by her half-brother, “she sprinkled ashes on her head, tore her robe, and with her face buried in her hands went away crying”.
This gesture was also used to express sorrow for sins and faults.
Jesus is also quoted as speaking of the practice in Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13.
“If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago (sitting) in sackcloth and ashes.”
Ash Wednesday is traditionally observed by Western Christians.
