Ash Wednesday
The quiet start of Lent, marked in ash and reflection.
Ash Wednesday opens the 40-day season of Lent in Western Christianity, falling 46 days before Easter Sunday. During services, ashes, traditionally made from burned palms of the previous year's Palm Sunday, are marked on worshippers' foreheads in the shape of a cross as a sign of repentance and mortality. Begin the season with our Prayers collection.