The cross symbolizes the Crucification of Christ, and through him salvation is possible.

The applying of the ashes reminds the believers of their inherent mortality and transgressions and that repentance is essential to become one with God. The officiating priest applies the ashes in the shape of a cross on the forehead or on the tonsure of the clergy, while reciting the litany ‘for dust you are and dust you shall return’. On this Ash Wednesday, a Mass or services of worship are held, wherein the faithful approach the altar to receive the application of the ashes. The season of Lent is a forty day period of abstinence and fasting which culminates in the feast of Easter. Ash Wednesday falls on the first day of Lent, on a Wednesday, after Quinquagesima Sunday. This Biblical quotation adequately captures the essence of Ash Wednesday, also known as dies cinerum, the Day of Ashes. Professor Elkins once served a West Virginia church that 'couldn't afford palm branches, so they ground up a coal lump and were marked with coal dust, which deepened the ritual by linking it with black lung,' the disease affecting many miners.‘Remember O’ man you are dust and to dust you shall return’ (Genesis 3.19) Day recalls getting ashes from nearby Episcopal churches the first year his church conducted the service. Professor Elkins also says the Ash Wednesday rite is gaining popularity among Protestants because 'it is the one place in the liturgical year where people can gather to openly grieve together.'Īshes for the service are traditionally made by burning the palms used at the Palm Sunday celebration the previous year. Randy Day, says parishioners had indicated that the solemn and meditative character of the ritual was a welcome balance to the upbeat tone of most Sunday services.

This will be the third year that ashes are offered at Jessie Lee Memorial United Methodist Church in Ridgefield, Conn. 'The marking of congregants with the cross, the accompanying words - 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return' - and the ashes themselves really draw people into the depths of the mystery of who Christ is for us.' 'We are discovering the importance of ritual action and its ability to draw us beyond the cerebral,' she says. McKinley, who handles questions of worship for the national office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), says the Ash Wednesday service was part of a two-decade effort by her church to 'recapture the Christian year,' the cycle of holy days and seasons.

History of imposition of ashes