Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday-
Ash Wednesday is the holy day that starts of the Catholic season of lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. Depending on when Easter falls, Ash Wednesday can be anywhere from February 4, to March 10. During masses on Ash Wednesday ashes are put on the foreheads of the people in attendance. Many times the ashes are the from the burned palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. In the Roman Catholic Church the ashes can be given to anyone who has been baptized. Also, Ash Wednesday is much of the time observed by fasting and abstinence from meat.

3 comments:

Meghan said...

Ash Wednesday is a topic that I have been praticing since I was a little girl but I never really knew what the meaning behind it was. This Catholicism presentation helped me understand details that I was not aware of and answered many questions. Also allowed me to learn more about one of the many practices of Catholicism.

Brian - I'm a Big said...

I had no idea what ash wednesday was before I read this post. Its interesting that they spread ash on the foreheads of people.

Judaism said...

That's really interesting that they burn the palm leaves from last year to make the ashes! I'm Catholic and i didn't even know that! I also didn't know the meaning of it until now.
emily d