What is Ash Wednesday and how does it work?
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Ash Wednesday is the Christian symbolic celebration on the first day of Lent of the ashes used to mark the foreheads of believers as sign of repentance, and occur inside a window period one day after Fat Tuesday or Tuesday of Grace, commonly referred in the French speaking world as the famous Mardi Gras, and 46 days before Easter.
The ashes are gathered from the Palm fronds known as Palm Crosses burned the previous year on Palm Sunday, and mixed during a liturgical ceremony with the same sacred oil used to anoint the baptized. The paste is later used by the priest during the Ash Wednesday service marking first a Sign of the Cross on himself and then on the congregants. Since Ash Wednesday is a fast festivity and also falls on a different day every year, it is considered a movable fast; therefore it can occur from February 4 to 10 of March, depending on the year.
The next 9 years, Ash Wednesday will occur on different dates as follow:
2011 ... March 9
2012 ... February 22
2013 ... February 13
2014 ... March 5
2015 ... February 18
2016 ... February 10
2017 ... March 1
2018 ... February 14
2019 ... March 6
As for the insulting part if asked about it, I haven´t seen anything like it in my country, a 100% Catholic nation. On the contrary, the people seemed content and happy to participate on this ceremony and to "show" that they indeed attended the liturgy.
The burning of Palm fronds to make ashes for Ash Wednesday.
http://www.mahalo.com/ash-wednesday
http://www.mahalo.com/mardi-gras
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday
a Catholic from the most Catholic country in America
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Ash cross in the forehead symbolizes repentance, expressing sorrow for the mistakes a person did. It has connection with a verse in the bible that says a human came from ashes/dust and must return to dust.
"Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:19)
The priest also says the same while putting this cross on a person's forehead.
Although this is a tradition for believers, it is not a sacrament like baptism, marriage, etc.
For your question, no it's not rude to ask them what it is about. :) It's not something that would offend a catholic especially if he/she's wearing the cross anyway.
personal knowledge since I'm Catholic.
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