What is Ash Wednesday? Why Christians celebrate it

Each year,ash wednesday marks the beginning of lent and is always 40 days before Easter sunday.Lent is a 40-day season( not counting sundays) marked by repentance,fasting,reflection and ultimately celebration.The 40-day period represents christ's time of temptation in the wilderness,where he fastes and where satan tempted him.where do ashes come from and what do the ashes symbolize?

In many congregations,the ashes are prepares by burning palm branches from previous palm sunday.On palm sunday,churches bless and hand out palm branches to attendees, a reference to the gospels accoutn of jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

The ashes symbolize two main things: death and repentance. "Ashes are equivalent to dust, and human flesh is composed of dust or claywhen we come forward to receive ashes on Ash wednesday,we are saying that we are sorry for our sins, and that we want to use the lesson of lent to correct our faults,purify our hearts ,control our desires and grow in holiness so we be prepared to celebrate Easter with great joy.

With focus on our own mortalitu and sinfulness,christians can enter into lent season solemnly,while also looking forward in greater anticipation and joy of the message of Easter and christ ultimate victory over sins and death

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