59 Ash Wednesday!

What do you know about Ash Wednesday? I definitely didn’t know much before now; I knew it was a holiday that was celebrated in many places but I didn’t know why people celebrated it.

I bought a 2015 diary and was looking through it and came across all these dates marked with different names but had no clue what most of them were. I knew roughly what time of year they fell and that for some of them there are often novelty things in shops that you can buy.

In January there weren’t many dates so I spent some spare time having a look at different ones to see what all the fuss was about. As I live in England I thought I would start understanding the common holidays notice in England in more depth before I went overseas.

Have you heard about lent? …No, well it is a period of 40 days where you give up something that you consume, possibly even consume a little too much. Common things to give up for lent include bread, chocolate, crisps, biscuits, sweet snacks, smoking, alcohol etc. I have never tried to give something up as I don’t follow the religion Ash Wednesday is connected to but there are many people who do give something up even if they don’t believe in Christianity.

Ash Wednesday is on the calendars as it marks the first day of Lent, that’s why it comes after Shrove Tuesday also known as pancake day. Pancake Day is a day of feasting on food filling up to prepare for the 40 days of lent. A common food to consume on Shrove Tuesdays is pancakes.

The 40 days of lent lead from the belief that Jesus Christ spent 40 days in the desert with very little if any food and water. Lent is meant to reflect his experience on those who follow him. Also, it is known as preparing for Easter as many people indulge in an Easter egg or two over the holiday period.

On Ash Wednesday there are often church services across the UK. During said services, it is a tradition that ash from palm branches that are blessed on Palm Sunday is placed on participating people’s heads with the words uttered “remember that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return”.

I am not 100% sure of the meaning behind those words but my personal interpretation of this quote is based on the fact I am not religious, please do not take offence, this is not correct or incorrect it is what I believe as a person when drawing on the above quote. Feel free to leave your interpretation in the comments below.

I think that the quote is saying that you were boring from nothing, you used someone else’s life to create yours and you grow into the person you are today but eventually when you grow old or if you have an accident you return to your first state.