Ash Wednesday

March 1, 2017

• Topical

Shrove Tuesday is over… Have you eaten too many pancakes? It is now time to give up those indulgent foods and enter the period of fasting… but only until Easter Sunday arrives with an abundance of chocolate!

Ash Wednesday, falling the day after Shrove Tuesday, is the first day of fasting of Lent. Leading up to the day before Easter, Ash Wednesday originates from the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert, according to the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, where he beat the temptation Satan threw at him. Therefore, Lent mirrors this period.

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of blessing ashes made from palm branches blessed on Palm Sunday the previous year. The ashes are placed on the heads of the participants to the accompaniment of the words ‘Repent, and believe in the Gospel’ or ‘Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return’. The ashes are a symbol of being sorry for the things they have done wrong. The marking of the ashes on the forehead of the participants marks the Christians commitment to God and Jesus Christ.

Pictured above are Palm Branches from the previous years Palm Sunday.

Here the palm branches are being burnt in preparation for Ash Wednesday

Today, Church services have the ashes blessed by the church leader before being placed on their forehead. This is both a physical and spiritual beginning to the forthcoming Lent season of repentance leading up to Easter Sunday. The cross that is marked on their forehead symbolises that through Christ’s death and resurrection, all Christians can be free from sin.

Above is an example of the ash from the palm branches being placed on a churchgoer’s forehead.

Wishing you all the very best of luck in denying those naughty little temptations! Let us know at Kings Tutors how you get on.