Ash Wednesday

First day of Lent, the period of fasting in the Christian calendar leading up to Easter. Christians used to cover their heads with ashes to show repentance, a custom continued today by some Christians, including Roman Catholics, who mark their foreheads with a cross in ash, as a sign of penitence (sorrow for sins).

Traditionally, the ashes are made from the palm leaves of the previous year's Palm Sunday service (commemorating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem).