Christian Year

ASH WEDNESDAY

Ash Wednesday is the Wednesday six and a half weeks before Easter Day and is the start of the period of Lent. As the date of Easter is not fixed, so too the date of Ash Wednesday varies from year to year.

Ash Wednesday derives its names from the practice of a priest marking people’s foreheads with the sign of the cross using ashes (from something burnt). This was a sign of their pentience and wish for forgiveness.

This practice still continues today in some churches. Often the ashes are produced by collecting and burning the palm crosses that were given out on Palm Sunday the previous year.