Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent, which occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a solemn reminder of human mortality and the need for reconciliation with God.
Many Christians begin Ash Wednesday by marking a Lenten calendar, praying a Lenten daily devotional, and making a Lenten sacrifice. Ash Wednesday derives its name from this practice, which is accompanied by the words, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or the dictum “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
The ashes are prepared by burning palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations. The ash is applied in the shape of a cross on the forehead of each worshipper on Ash Wednesday.
It is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence, where only one full meal and no meat are to be consumed.
