OHIO – On ash Wednesday you may encounter Christians, with a black cross drawn on their foreheads.
This could be a little shocking, but this religious practice goes back a very long time.
Ash Wednesday officially known by Christians as the Day of Ashes, it is a day of repentance when Christians confess their sins and profess their devotions to God.
During a morning ceremony, a priest places the ashes on the worshiper’s forehead in the shape of a cross. This also can be performed by a minister or pastor and is meant to show that a person belongs to Jesus Christ and represents a person’s morning for their sins. These same sins are what Christians believe Jesus Christ gave his life for when he died on the cross.
Ash Wednesday marks the start of the Lenten period or Lent leading up to Easter the day of Jesus’s resurrection. The ashes symbolize both death and repentance. The ash reminds Christians that from dust they came from and from dust they will return.
Some Christians celebrate this time by fasting and abstinence from something important until Easter. In many places, Christians historically abstained from food for a whole day until the evening.
