Christians worldwide will begin Lent by solemnly observing Ash Wednesday. Before this holy day many people around the world most natably in the Americas have been celebrating Carnival which is a festival that precedes Lent and runs from the middle of January to Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"). On Mardi Gras countless beads are worn and all people have a free pass on endlessly gorging on foods abundant with fat. These fats will be given up until Easter Sunday. On Ash Wednesday Catholics are marked with ashes which are acquired by burning palm branches from the previous year's celebration of Palm Sunday. The ashes are blessed using holy water and are also fumigated with incense. The ashes are applied by the priest using his thumb to form a cross on the recipient's forehead. On this day Catholics are obligated to fast and abstain from meat this day and all Fridays of Lent. Fasting in this situation is defined as taking only one full meal and supplenting the full meal with two smaller meals which should not together equate to the amount of the full meal. In Rome Pope Benedict XVI will start a penitential procession from the Basilica of Saint Anselm to the Basilica of Santa Sabina which is the
stational church of Ash Wednesday. At Santa Sabina he will celebrate Mass and bless ashes with which he will sprinkle over the tonsure of high ranking prelates present. In Europe the ashes are sprinkled lightly over one's tonsure rather than the forehead. Lent for Catholics is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Catholics are encouraged to give up favorite commodities, increase personal devotion and penance as well as emphasize on helping the poor in accordance to the Gospel. Catholics and non Catholics alike are invited to recieve ashes on their forhead because ahses are a sacramental and not a sacrament like Communion. Statistically speaking, Ash Wednesday is the day the most people show up for Church besides Christmas and Easter. On this day almost everyone wants to be seen as a penitential Catholic. In the Eastern Christian tradition Lent begins on a Monday. On that day they abstain from meat, eggs and dairy. Ashes are not distributed in the Eastern Christian churches with the exception of the Maronite Rite.
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