Today marks the beginning of the Lenten Season for Christians. A holiday of obligation for Catholics which is the day they got to mass and get ash crosses written on their forehead. Easter is exactly 40 days from today.
The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are usually derived from burning the blessed palm branches left from the last Palm Sunday celebration. The ashes are blessed, sprinkled with holy water and fumigated with incense.Members of the clergy receive ashes from fellow clergy, usually from the most senior member of the clergy present. Monks receive their mark of ashes on their tonsure rather than their foreheads. Priests then place ashes on all willing members of the congregation, usually in the shape of a cross.
At some churches, believers wash the ashes off before leaving the church to symbolize that they have been cleansed of their sins; in other churches, participants leave the ashes on when they leave, thereby "carrying the cross out into the world."
In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are the only days on which fasting is still universally required. Religion Facts; Image Source
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