Ash Wednesday and Lent
Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a 40 day period of repentanceRemorse for your past actions., fastingTo abstain from all food and drink, typically as a religious observance. and abstinenceThe practice of restraining oneself from indulgence - for example, not drinking alcohol., in preparation for the most important Christian festival of the year, Easter.
By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians remember Jesus' 40 days of fasting and repentance in the wilderness before he started preaching his message.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
On Ash Wednesday, many Christians attend a religious service where ashes are blessed by the priest and used to mark the sign of the cross on their foreheads.
Ashes act as a symbol of penitence (or being sorry) for having done something wrong. The ashes are also a reminder of human mortalBeing subject to death. and refer to the biblical idea that all humans come from dust and to dust they will return.
The practices of fasting and using ashes to show repentance are found in the Bible:
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with Him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
Eastern Orthodox ChurchThe second-largest Christian church. It separated from the Catholic church in the eleventh century, as it rejected the idea of the Bishop of Rome being the sole leader of the Christian Church. churches observe Lent by fasting for the six weeks before Palm SundayFor Christians, the Sunday before Easter, the first day of Holy Week, when they recall the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. and continue through Holy WeekFor Christians, the week before Easter Sunday that recalls the suffering and death of Jesus.. They use a different calendar to the Western churches and usually celebrate Easter on a different date.