DID YOU KNOW: Ash Wednesday

Why Ashes on Ash Wednesday?

 

 According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, ashes are symbolic of mortality, mourning and penance.

The Christian use of ashes as a sign of penance seems to have been taken from Jewish tradition. Originally, ashes were signs of private penance, but then became part of the ritual for public penance.

As early as the 300’s, at the start of Lent, local churches had a ritual for the beginning of public penance.

Pope Urban II (1088-1099) recommended the custom that all churches receive ashes.

“Ashes were put on the heads of men and the sign of the cross traced with ashes on the foreheads of women, presumably because their heads were covered.”

“In the 11th century there appeared a special prayer for the blessing of ashes. And the 12th century gave rise to the rule that the ashes used on Ash Wednesday are to be made from the palm branches of the previous year.”