From Fat Tuesday To Ash Wednesday

In Christian traditions, Lent is the time period leading to Easter. The traditional principle of lent was preparing the believer for annual commemoration during the Holy Week (Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection). The season culminates on Easter and celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The believer is prepared through self denial, alms giving, penitence and prayer. This season is terme d as 46 days long (40 days if the Sundays aren’t counted) and according to the Bible represent the time Jesus spent in desert and endured temptations by Satan. Until the reformation of Protestants, the practice of Lent was universal in Christendom as few protestant churches don’t observe this season. But other churches like Anglicans, Methodists and Lutherans do.

For the Christian Calendar, Ash Wednesday occurs 46 days (40 days without Sundays) before Easter and is the first day of Lent season. It falls on different dates every year as it can change with the change in the Easter date but the date of Ash Wednesday falls between 4th February and 10th March. Its name is derived from the practice of placing ashes on the forehead (sign of repentance). Usually, the used ashes are gathered from the burnt Palm crosses burnt on previous year’s Palm Sunday. Few churches mix ashes with the special oil of Catechumens though few churches use ordinary oil. The formed paste is used by the minister, who makes a sign of cross first on his/her own forehead and then on the heads of the congregants.

According to the Bible, the ashes were used in earlier times to express mourning. By dusting themselves with ash, the penitent expresses sorrow for his/her faults and sins. In Roman Catholic Church, this day is observed by repentance, abstinence from meat and fasting, basically to contemplate one’s own transgressions. On Good Friday and Ash Wednesday, the Roman Catholics (between 18 to 59 years of age) are permitted only one full meal which could be supplemented by two smaller meals. The smaller meals combined shouldn’t be equal to the full meal. Many Christians go beyond the minimum obligations and keep bread and water fast or a full fast and few Christians fast for the whole season (the original requirement by the church) and break it on the celebration of Easter vigil.

The Ash Wednesday (first day of lent) comes after the Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday) which is the last day of the Carnival season. In 2010, Ash Wednesday falls on 17th February.