(CNN Spanish) -
"Dust you are and dust you will become."
"Convert and believe the gospel."
These phrases, pronounced by priests while they draw the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the parishioners with ashes, represent all of Ash Wednesday: the beginning of Lent (the 40 days in which Catholics prepare for the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus).
Every year, on Ash Wednesday, thousands of Catholics are seen on the streets with this sign on their face, but what does it mean or what is Ash Wednesday?
The ashes, the result of burning the palms on Palm Sunday the previous year, are imposed on Catholics as a reminder that earthly life is temporary: “The imposition of ashes reminds us that our life on earth is temporary and may our definitive life be found in heaven”, they explain on the catholic.net website.
Like most traditions of the Catholic Church, its origin is linked to Judaism: in ancient times, they used to cover themselves with ashes when they had sinned or if they were preparing for an important festival.
It was a symbol "of his desire to convert from his bad life to a life with God," they add on said web portal.
The Catholic Church adopted this practice and, at first, only "penitents who began their public penance" received the ashes.
A woman receives the sign of the cross during a mass on Ash Wednesday in San Salvador.
CREDIT: MARVIN RECINOS/AFP/Getty Images
It was years later, in 384 BC, when, according to catholic.net, "Lent acquired a penitential meaning for all Christians" and, even later, already in the 11th century, when the Church of Rome adopted the current custom to impose the ashes at the beginning of this period.
This occurred, they explain on the aciprensa.com website, after a time in which these practices fell into disuse (between the 8th and 10th centuries).
The ashes, that which vanishes, as a sign of an earthly life characterized by the "inexorable expiration and ephemeral fragility of human life, subject to death", described in aciprensa.com.
They are a reminder for Catholics to acquire “an increasingly clear awareness of the fact that we are passing through this tiring itinerary on earth, and that it impels and stimulates us to work until the end, so that the Kingdom of God be established within us and his justice triumph”, they add on the aforementioned page.
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LOOK: What is Lent and on what date is it celebrated?
As Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, and Lent is the time of preparation for the Passion of Christ through reflection, the Catholic Church asks its parishioners to pray and make certain sacrifices: fasting and abstinence both on Wednesday of Ash as every subsequent Friday until Easter Sunday.
Fasting consists of eating only one large meal a day, while abstinence is based on not eating meat.
As explained in catholic.net, abstinence is mandatory from the age of 14 and fasting from 18 to 59 years.
Catholics understand that, through these sacrifices, they purify themselves and ask "forgiveness to God for having offended him" and tell him "that we want to change our lives to always please him," they add on that website.
The date of Ash Wednesday also coincides with the day that the end of the carnival season is celebrated and varies each year because it depends on when Holy Week will be.
CarnivalCatholicismCatholic Church
