Millions of Christians observe Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season, while others barely know what it's about. The word, Lenten, is derived from an old English term for the "lengthening" of days, which occurs in springtime. Lent is the 40 day period before Easter Sunday.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. On Ash Wednesday ashes are placed on people's foreheads in the sign of the cross to remind them of Christ's death, of the sorrow one should feel for his or her sins, and of the necessity of repenting, which is turning from sin and turning to God. Traditionally, the ashes are obtained from burned palm branches from the Palm Sunday of the previous year.
The practice, which dates from the early Middle Ages, is common among Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Episcopalians, and many Lutherans; it was also adopted by some Methodists and Presbyterians in the 1990s.
