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.