Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting for a lot of Christians. It’s preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the primary day of Lent, a 40-day interval of preparation and fasting earlier than Easter. In contrast to Christmas, Ash Wednesday and Easter don’t fall on a hard and fast date. Historically Lent begins on the Monday of the seventh week earlier than Easter and ends on a Friday that’s 9 days earlier than Easter, in line with Britannica.com.

When is Ash Wednesday?

This yr, Ash Wednesday falls on February 22, Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday Historical past and Significance:

Believers in Christ all over the world observe Ash Wednesday as a time for prayers, acts of charity, and mortifications. Throughout this era, some additionally surrender issues they like as they quick, together with their favorite meals objects, watching tv, or social media. It is usually the interval when the devoted apply good deeds, resembling almsgiving, and be notably near the needy and the struggling. On Ash Wednesday, monks apply ash on the brow of every particular person coming to the Church, saying – ‘Thou artwork mud and unto mud thou shall return’.

In the meantime, Ash Wednesday began in historical Rome, the place sinners wore sack garments and lined themselves with ash as an act of public penance. Easter concludes the 40 days interval of fasting – Lent. Holy Thursday – the celebration of Jesus’s final supper and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday is part of the Holy Week which ends on Easter Sunday.

Within the early Christian Church, the size of the Lent celebrations diverse, however finally, it started six weeks (42 days) earlier than Easter. This offered solely 36 days of fasting (excluding Sundays). Within the seventh century, 4 days have been added earlier than the primary Sunday in Lent to determine 40 fasting days in imitation of Jesus Christ’s quick within the desert.