Ash Wednesday. In the Christian church, the first day of Lent, occurring 6½ weeks before Easter. In the early church, the length of the Lenten observance varied, but eventually it began six weeks - 42 days - before Easter. But this provided only 36 days of fasting (because Sundays were not supposed to be fast days). So, in the 7th century, four days were added before the first Sunday in Lent in order to establish 40 fasting days, in imitation of Christ's fast in the desert.

The custom of using ashes today is from an old ceremony. Christians who had committed grave faults were obliged to do public penance. On Ash Wednesday the Bishop blessed the hair shirts which they were to wear during the forty days, and sprinkled ashes over them which had been made from the palms from the previous year…