Ash Wednesday

For other uses, see Ash Wednesday (disambiguation).

Ash Wednesday
A cross of ashes on a worshipper's forehead on Ash Wednesday
Observed by	Followers of many Christian denominations, primarily Western Christian (see below).
Type	Christian
Date	Wednesday in seventh week before Easter
2012 date	February 22
Observances	Service of worship or Mass Marking of an ash cross on the forehead
Related to	Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras Lent Easter

Liturgical year
Western
Advent Christmastide Epiphany Pre-Lent Lent Easter Triduum Eastertide Ascensiontide Pentecost Ordinary Time
Eastern
Feast of Cross Nativity Fast Nativity Theophany Great Lent Pascha Pentecost Apostles' Fast Great Feasts Transfiguration Dormition Protection

Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter. It can occur as early as February 4 or as late as March 10.

According to the Canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus spent forty days fasting in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, during which he endured temptation by Satan.^[1][2] Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of this forty day liturgical period of prayer and fasting.

Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. The ashes used are typically gathered after the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned.^[3]

This practice is common in much of Christendom, being celebrated by Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Anglicans.^[4][5]

Ritual

At Masses and services of worship on this day, ashes are imposed on the foreheads of the faithful (or on the tonsure spots, in the case of some clergy). The priest, minister, or in some cases officiating layperson, marks the forehead of each participant with black ashes in the shape of a cross, which the worshipper traditionally retains until it wears off. The act echoes the ancient Near Eastern tradition of throwing ashes over one's head to signify repentance before God (as related in the Bible). The priest or minister says one or both of the following when applying the ashes:

Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.

—Genesis 3:19

Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.

—Mark 1:15

The imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday

Ashes may also be sprinkled on the top of the head, as shown in this 1881 Polish painting.

The liturgical imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday is a sacramental, not a sacrament, and in the Catholic understanding of the term the ashes themselves are also a sacramental. The ashes are blessed according to various rites proper to each liturgical tradition, sometimes involving the use of Holy Water. In some churches, they are mixed with a small amount of water^[6] or olive oil,^[7] which serve as a fixative. In most liturgies for Ash Wednesday, the Penitential psalms are read; Psalm 51 (LXX Psalm 50) is especially associated with this day.^[8] The service also often includes a corporate confession rite.

In some of the low church traditions, other practices are sometimes added or substituted, as other ways of symbolizing the confession and penitence of the day. For example, in one common variation, small cards are distributed to the congregation on which people are invited to write a sin they wish to confess. These small cards are brought forth to the altar table where they are burned.^[9]

In the Catholic Church, ashes, being sacramentals, may be given to anyone who wishes to receive them,^[10][11] as opposed to Catholic sacraments, which are generally reserved for church members, except in cases of grave necessity.^[12][13] Similarly, in other Christian denominations ashes may be received by all who profess the Christian faith and are baptized.^[14]

In the Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat, and repentance—a day of contemplating one's transgressions. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer also designates Ash Wednesday as a day of fasting. In the medieval period, Ash Wednesday was the required annual day of penitential confession occurring after fasting and the remittance of the tithe. In other Christian denominations these practices are optional, with the main focus being on repentance. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 (whose health enables them to do so) are permitted to consume only one full meal, which may be supplemented by two smaller meals, which together should not equal the full meal. Some Catholics will go beyond the minimum obligations demanded by the Church and undertake a complete fast or a bread and water fast. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also days of abstinence from meat (mammals and fowl), as are all Fridays during Lent.^[15] Some Catholics continue fasting beyond Lent,^{[citation needed]} as was the Church's traditional requirement,^[16] concluding only after the celebration of the Easter Vigil.

As the first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday comes the day after Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), the last day of the Carnival season.

Biblical significance

"Ash Wednesday" by Carl Spitzweg: the end of Carnival.

Ash Wednesday is a day of repentance and it marks the beginning of Lent. Ashes were used in ancient times, according to the Bible, to express mourning. Dusting oneself with ashes was the penitent's way of expressing sorrow for sins and faults. An ancient example of one expressing one's penitence is found in Job 42:3-6. 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." (vv. 5-6, KJV) The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer 6:26).The prophet Daniel pleaded for God this way: "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3). Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: "That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes" (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39).

Other examples are found in several other books of the Bible including, Numbers 19:9, 19:17, Jonah 3:6, Matthew 11:21, and Luke 10:13, and Hebrews 9:13. Ezekiel 9 also speaks of a linen-clad messenger marking the forehead of the city inhabitants that have sorrow over the sins of the people. All those without the mark are destroyed.

It marks the start of a 43-day period which is an allusion to the separation of Jesus in the desert to fast and pray. During this time he was tempted. Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13.^[17] While not specifically instituted in the Bible text, the 40-day period of repentance is also analogous to the 40 days during which Moses repented and fasted in response to the making of the Golden calf. (Jews today follow a 40-day period of repenting during the High Holy Days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur.)

In Victorian England, theatres refrained from presenting costumed shows on Ash Wednesday, so they provided other entertainments.^{[citation needed]}

Dates

Ash Wednesday is a moveable fast, occurring 46 days before Easter. It fell on February 17 in 2010 and on March 9 in 2011. In future years Ash Wednesday will occur on these dates:

2012 – February 22 2013 – February 13 2014 – March 5 2015 – February 18 2016 – February 10 2017 – March 1

2018 – February 14 2019 – March 6 2020 – February 26 2021 – February 17 2022 – March 2 2023 – February 22

The earliest date Ash Wednesday can occur is February 4 (in a common year with Easter on March 22), which happened in 1573, 1668, 1761 and 1818 and will next occur in 2285. The latest date is March 10 (when Easter Day falls on April 25) which occurred in 1546, 1641, 1736, 1886 and 1943 and will next occur in 2038. Ash Wednesday has never occurred on Leap Year Day (February 29), and it will not occur as such until 2096. The only other years of the third millennium that will have Ash Wednesday on February 29 are 2468, 2688, 2840 and 2992. (Ash Wednesday falls on February 29 only if Easter is on April 15 in a leap year.)

Observing denominations

These Christian denominations are among those that mark Ash Wednesday with a particular liturgy or church service.

• African Methodist Episcopal Church
• African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
• Anglican Communion
• Traditional Anglican Communion
• Individual Baptist churches may hold a service
• Roman Catholic Church
• Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
• Church of North India
• Church of God (Anderson)
• Church of South India
• Some congregations of Community of Christ
• Some congregations of the Evangelical Covenant Church
• Some Free Churches (e.g., Free Methodist Church)
• The Liberal Catholic Church
• Lutheran Church
• Some congregations of Mennonite Church USA
• Methodist Church in India
• Moravian Church
• Old Catholic Church
• Reformed churches (Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), etc.)
• United Methodist Church
• Wesleyan Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not, in general, observe Ash Wednesday; instead, Orthodox Great Lent begins on Clean Monday. There are, however, a relatively small number of Orthodox Christians who follow the Western Rite; these do observe Ash Wednesday, although often on a different day from the previously mentioned denominations, as its date is determined from the Orthodox calculation of Pascha, which may be as much as a month later than the Western observance of Easter.

National No Smoking Day

In the Republic of Ireland, Ash Wednesday is National No Smoking Day.^[18][19] The date was chosen because quitting smoking ties in with giving up luxury for Lent.^[20][21] In the United Kingdom, No Smoking Day was held for the first time on Ash Wednesday 1984,^[22] but is now fixed as the second Wednesday in March.^[23]

See also

• Ash Wednesday, an album by Elvis Perkins
• "Ash Wednesday", a poem by T.S. Eliot
• Ash Wednesday fires, a series of bushfires that affected south-eastern Australia in 1983
• Carnival, festival ending on Ash Wednesday
• Holy Week – the last week in the season of Lent

References

1. ^ "What is Lent and why does it last forty days?". The United Methodist Church. http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=2870. Retrieved 24 August 2007. 
2. ^ "The Liturgical Year". The Anglican Catholic Church. http://www.anglicancatholic.org/dmas/litdescp.html. Retrieved 24 August 2007. 
3. ^ Ellsworth Kalas. "Preaching the Calendar: Celebrating Holidays and Holy Days". Westminster John Knox Press. http://books.google.com/books?id=QQpXwIt3ihAC&pg=PA25&dq=ash+wednesday&hl=en&ei=OdV2TfXYHcyArQH4oNCHCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=ash%20wednesday&f=false. Retrieved 08 March 2011. "We are wise, therefore to explain, whether in the course of the homily or in the church bulletin or newsletter, something of the meaning of the day: of ashes as an ancient symbol of loss and repentance; of the historic words spoken during the imposition of the ashes, "Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return"; of the practice in many religious communions of using ashes made from the palms of the previous year's Palm Sunday; and, of course, that the imposition of ashes is a sign of mourning and repentance." 
4. ^ William P. Lazarus, Mark Sullivan. "Comparative Religion For Dummies". For Dummies. http://books.google.com/books?id=oTtcFiGbW2kC&pg=PA98&dq=lent+lutheran+catholic+methodist&hl=en&ei=4NF2Tf3LLsL_rAGmtoBf&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=lent%20lutheran%20catholic%20methodist&f=false. Retrieved 08 March 2011. "This is the day Lent begins. Christians go to church to pray and have a cross drawn in ashes on their foreheads. The ashes drawn on ancient tradition represent repentance before God. The holiday is part of Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and Episcopalian liturgies, among others." 
5. ^ Sylvia A. Sweeney. "An Ecofeminist Perspective on Ash Wednesday and Lent". Peter Lang. http://books.google.com/books?id=u2ZV_f4uZUEC&pg=PA137&dq=lent+lutheran+catholic+methodist&hl=en&ei=4NF2Tf3LLsL_rAGmtoBf&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=lent%20lutheran%20catholic%20methodist&f=false. Retrieved 08 March 2011. "In the twentieth century, the imposition of ashes became part of the liturgical experience of not only Roman Catholics, but Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans as well." 
6. ^ Ford, Penny. "Lent 101". Upper Room Ministries. http://www.upperroom.org/methodx/thelife/articles/lent101.asp. 
7. ^ "Lent and Easter". The Diocese of London. 17 March 2004. http://www.london.anglican.org/NewsShow_2653. 
8. ^ Psalm 51 is the Ash Wednesday reading in both the Revised Common Lectionary and The Catholic Lectionary.
9. ^ "What is the significance of ashes being placed on the forehead on Ash Wednesday?". The United Methodist Church. http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=2871. 
10. ^ "Responses to frequently asked questions regarding Lenten practices". Catholics United for the Faith. http://www.cuf.org/news/newsdetail.asp?newID=30#ash2. 
11. ^ Code of Canon Law, canon 1170
12. ^ Donovan, Colin B.. "Communion of Non-Catholics or Intercommunion". Eternal Word Television Network. http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/intercommunion.htm. 
13. ^ 1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 844
14. ^ "Pastor's Message: Ash Wednesday, An Invitation To Lent". First United Methodist Church. 28 February 2001. http://www.gbgm-umc.org/fumc-wallingford/sermons/sermons01/2001_02_28.html. 
15. ^ 1983 Code of Canon Law, canon 1251
16. ^ 1917 Code of Canon Law, canon 1252 §§2-3
17. ^ "Lent with Jesus in the desert to fight the spirit of evil". Asia News.it. 3 May 2006. http://www.asianews.it/index.php?art=5554&l=en. "Turning to the gospel of the day, which is about Jesus' 40 days in the desert, "where he overcame the temptations of Satan" (cfr Mk 1:12-13), Pope Benedict XVI exhorted Christians to follow "their Teacher and Lord… to face together with Him 'the struggle against the spirit of evil'." He said: "The desert is rather an eloquent metaphor of the human condition."" 
18. ^ Written Answers. - Cigarette Smoking. Dáil Éireann - Volume 475 - 18 February 1997
19. ^ Chronic long-term costs of COPD, Dr Jarlath Healy, Irish Medical Times, 2008
20. ^ Ban on smoking in cars gets Minister's support Alison Healy, The Irish Times, 2009
21. ^ 20% of smokers light up around their children every day Claire O’Sullivan, Irish Examiner, 2006
22. ^ The History of No Smoking Day, No Smoking Day website
23. ^ FAQ: When is No Smoking Day 2010?, No Smoking Day website

External links

• A Roman Catholic Ash Wednesday Service
• An Episcopal Ash Wednesday Service
• The Text This Week: Ash Wednesday
• Upper Room Ministries: Biblical Significance of Ash Wednesday
• Dates of Ash Wednesday from 1583 - 9999
• Lent: Ash Wednesday - All Saints' King's Lynn
• Origin, Traditions and customs and Observance of Ash Wednesday