For Christians, the death and resurrection of Jesus is a pivotal event commemorated each year during a season of preparation called Lent and a season of celebration called Easter.
The day that begins the Lenten season is called Ash Wednesday. Here are four things to know about it.
1. Origin of the tradition of using ashes
On Ash Wednesday, many Christians have ashes put on their forehead – a practice that has been going on for about a thousand years.
In the earliest Christian centuries – from A.D. 200 to 500 – those guilty of serious sins such as murder, adultery or apostasy, a public renunciation of one’s faith, were excluded for a time from the Eucharist, a sacred ceremony celebrating communion with Jesus and with one another.