Time to fast for 40 days
Ash is used to express grief, sorrow for sins and faults and also for repentance.
The day symbolizing the first day of the month of Christian fasting falls on 10 February this year.
Ash Wednesday is a western Christian holiday that marks the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter.
Lent mirrors a period where Jesus Christ fasted in the desert for 40 days. Thus Christians fast during Lent, except for the six Sundays of Lent where fasting is seen as inappropriate. Christians feast on these Sundays in celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. This culminates in a 46 day period, 40 of which are spent fasting and six of which are spent feasting.
The name Ash Wednesday is derived from the practice of blessing ashes on the day made from the burnt remains of previously blessed palm branches. The ashes are then placed on the foreheads of participants in the shape of a cross while saying the words “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”.
Ash is used to express grief, sorrow for sins and faults and also for repentance. The ashes are placed in the symbol of Christianity to represent penance, mourning and mortality.
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