Ash Wednesday

Culture of origin: Christian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Australia (national) · Canada (federal) · Christianity · France · Germany (nationwide) · United Kingdom (England and Wales) · United States (federal)

Ash Wednesday opens Lent, the season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving before Easter, and follows Shrove Tuesday. At church services worshippers receive a cross of ash on the forehead with the words "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return"; the ash comes from burning the previous year's Palm Sunday palms. It is kept by Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans and many other Western churches, often with fasting and abstinence from meat.