ASH WEDNESDAY

ASH WEDNESDAY MARCH 9, 2011
The first day of Lent in the West  is between February 4 and March 10.  For 14 centuries the season of Lent has been a time for self-examination and penitence in preparation for Easter. The name comes from the Saxon lengten-tide, referring to the lengthening of the days and the coming of spring. This 40-day period of abstinence recalls the fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, all of which—according to scripture—lasted 40 days. It was originally begun in the Western Church on a Sunday. But since Sundays were feast days, in the latter part of the sixth century Pope Gregory I moved the beginning of Lent ahead four days.
Gregory is also credited with having introduced the ceremony that gives this day its name. When public penitents came to the church for forgiveness, the priest would take some ash (made by burning the palms used on Palm Sunday of the previous year) and mark their foreheads with the sign of the cross as a reminder that they were but ashes and dust. Eventually the practice was extended to include all who wished to receive ashes.
In the East, ashes are not used, and Lent begins on the Monday before Ash Wednesday.
On Ash Wednesday in Iceland, children try to hook small bags of ashes or stones to the back of people's clothing.
 Some children's seasonal games used traditionally to begin on this date, notably marbles. In Sussex, Hampshire, and Middlesex up to the 1950s, children brought an ash-twig with a black bud on it to school; any who were caught without one would be pinched or stamped on by the others, up until noon. Some maintained that it must then be thrown away at once (Vickery, 1995: 17). This must be related to the Catholic ritual of blackening one's brow with ashes, but whether as parody or as misunderstanding of the word ‘ash’ is impossible to say.  Don't forget to check the calender and join us Wednesday Night at 7PM for our Service