Ash Wednesday to mark the beginning of the penitential season

This year Ash Wednesday falls on February 22 - tomorrow - and it is a widely practiced day of penitence throughout the Christian world.

Before Jesus began his public ministry, he spent forty days in the desert praying and fasting. Ash Wednesday is a commemoration of that spiritual retreat. Ash Wednesday therefore marks the traditional start of Lent, a period of forty days before Easter designed to prepare the penitential believer for Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. During Lent, individuals commit to increased prayer, penitence, charity and self-denial. This usually translates to giving up certain luxuries or preferred habits as an offer of sacrifice.

Ash Wednesday is so named because of the custom of smudging or sprinkling ashes on a person’s forehead. The ashes used generally come from the burning of palm leaves from the previous year’s Plam Sunday.

The occasion is celebrated across numerous Christian denominations, including Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians and even some Baptists.

The ritual itself is simple and dates back to pre-Christian times. Ashes, some of which are mixed with oil or holy water, are smeared on the foreheads of the faithful in the shape of a cross or no shape in particular, depending on tradition. Liturgies for this day usually involve the Penitential Psalms. The day itself is observed by a strict fast and repentance – a contemplation of one’s sins. In the Middle Ages, Ash Wednesday was a required day of confession and the remittance of the tithe.

The use of ashes to express penitence and mourning has a long and ancient precedent. The book of Job mentions this practice in Job 42:3-6, when Job says to God: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. The other eye wandereth of its own accord. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

The practice is mentioned in numerous other biblical passages, such as Jeremiah, "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer 6:26), Daniel, "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3), and Maccabees, "That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes" (1 Maccabees 3:47.”

Interestingly, one of the most “original” of church traditions, the Eastern Orthodox Church, does not celebrate Ash Wednesday. It begins the season of Lent with Clean Monday, which reflects the tradition of leaving behind sinful ways and non-fasting foods. Clean Monday culminates in a Ceremony of Mutual Forgiveness, at which all present will bow down before one another and ask forgiveness. In this way, the faithful begin Lent with a clean conscience, with forgiveness, and with renewed Christian love. It is customary to go to confession throughout the week beginning with Clean Monday, and to literally clean house thoroughly.

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