Christians Celebrate Ash Wednesday
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- Category: History
- Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 February 2012 08:53
- Written by Mike Lauterborn
Today is Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance to God, wherein Christians will place ashes on their foreheads as a sign of mourning. In the calendar of Western Christianity, it is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable feast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.
Wikipedia.com cites that, according to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry,during which he endured temptation by Satan. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this 40-day liturgical period of prayer and fasting.
The ashes used in the ritrual are typically gathered after the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned.
This practice is common in much of Christendom, being celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and some Baptist denominations.
