Ash Wednesday

When is Ash Wednesday?

March 2, 2022. This date varies each year, based on when Lent and Easter take place that particular year.

What is Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of the Lenten season for many Western Christian churches. This is a day of prayer and fasting. Many Christians attend a church service in which ashes are places on their forehead – sometimes in the shape of a cross. When the ashes are placed on one’s forehead, they are usually accompanied by these words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This is a reminder of human mortality and the need for penitence.

Christians worldwide have many different traditions for this day. In some countries, such as Jamaica, Ash Wednesday is a public holiday. In southwestern Germany, some people wash and dry wallets that were emptied during the Carnival festivities. In Iceland, this day is called “Oskudagur,” and this is an occasion for costumes; some even pin bags of ashes (or grain) to the backs of unsuspecting people!

Did you know . . .?

The ashes used in many Ash Wednesday services typically come from the ashes of palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration. (Palm Sunday falls the Sunday before Easter, and many Christians receive palm fronds to commemorate Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem.)

Want to learn more?

Lent is a time of fasting. This can mean different things depending on the denomination or tradition; some Christians, for example, abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent. In contemporary Catholic tradition, fasting also means restricting food intake to one full meal, and two smaller meals or snacks, each day. Here is a link to some recipes that follow those guidelines.