I don’t think she should have done it. When I saw it the first time I told the woman I think she got printer toner on her forehead. She explained it and I was a bit embarrassed but we laughed it off. I’m not going to presume what was going through this teacher’s mind, but I am willing to write it off as ignorance combined with perhaps a (wrongful) perception that you shouldn’t outwardly display your religion in a public school. There are several places in the US where teachers are not allowed to wear religious garb or any religious symbolism in public schools, and she could be wrongly conflating that onto this student. Plus Mormons (and I’m willing to bet she is one) have a tradition of hiding their religiousity under their clothing and displaying it would be completely inappropriate, so her thinking may have been colored by that. Anyway, I’m pretty sure this will not be a issue for her, or probably her entire school, again.
They probably also wonder why Filet-O-Fish sandwiches at McDonald’s are only on sale on Fridays during March (and sometimes April).
Maybe they think fish and cheese sandwiches go particularly well with Shamrock Shakes.
Anyway, I haven’t seen any for at least ten years, because Wednesdays are my day off, when I’m unlikely to leave the house.
What was she feasting on? Fish sandwiches?
Oddly enough, IHOP is doing Pancake Tuesday NEXT week.
Well, they wouldn’t have got the ashes until after they got to school. And my ashes when I was a kid tended to get brushed away by my hair during the course of the day.
A slight detour, but is long as we’re talking about learning things… My wife’s church has a progressive supper, and so I went last night to drink beer and eat good food with a gregarious bunch of Lutherans. I sat for a while with a woman who works at another church, who is also the pastor’s helper or whatever you call it during service. ( yeah I know, I’m ignorant)
In any case, she helps make the ashes for a couple of churches, and I never knew those ashes were a mix of burned palm fronds from last year’s Holy Week, and olive oil. At one point she talked about the delicate chemistry of the mixing, and how just a little bit too much olive oil results in the ashes being spread all over everyone’s hands, faces, and clothes.
Anyhow, I liked the symbolism of the palm fronds.
Actually, as a former Mormon, from Utah, who knew many people in that particular community (that was one of the top suspects for locations, so I googled and verified where it was) then I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on the thinking behind the actions. However, I seriously doubt you really are anxious to hear an explanation which doesn’t fit your preconceived notions so I’ll let you carry on.
Gosh. Who would have thought of that?
My boss is mega-Catholic. Always has one on Ash Wednesday.
You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but then I see no point to you mentioning it except to express your preconceived notion that it won’t matter to me. I’m not saying the woman was evil- and I truly don’t understand what explanation there is for demanding the child remove the ashes after he explains the religious significance that doesn’t involve at the very least a feeling that she need not accommodate his religious beliefs. She believes you should hide symbols of your religion rather than wear them outside clothing- that’s a specific example of “doesn’t feel she needs to accommodate his religious beliefs.” Students shouldn’t display their religion in a public school - also a specific example of feeling she need not accommodate his beliefs. It’s against the rules to have a dirty face - another specific example of feeling she need not accommodate his beliefs.
Poor wording. I googled before my original post. The articles I found then did not specify that the boy explained the ritual. I later found articles that did specify that.
Fish, fries, coleslaw.
You might be surprised at how full Catholic churches are on Ash Wednesday. In fact, rather than “C & E” (Christmas and Easter) Catholics, some call them “A & P” Catholics, for Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday, the days when loads of the occasional, non-devout church-goers show up. Strangely enough, Ash Wednesday is not what the Catholic Church calls a Holy Day of obligation
Holy days of obligation are Sundays, Christmas, Epiphany, a few others:
On seeing people with ashes on their foreheads, yes, I see them every year especially since I live in a majority Catholic area.
About the kid in the news story, I saw on another board that a poster looked up his school and the local Catholic church. Apparently there was a 7 AM Mass and the school opens at 8:50 AM.
I once had a boss who showed up at work with an ashy smudge on his forehead. I was this close to being nice and wiping it off for him when my brain figured it out.
I don’t recall ever seeing it as a thing when I was growing up. I was Baptist, so it wasn’t a thing for us.
I have since seen it “in the wild”. First time I had a kid show up to karate class with a smudge on his forehead, I mentioned it, but I got informed it was Ash Wednesday and it clued me in, so I didn’t try to wipe it off.
The new TV anchor on a local station was wearing them on air. And I had to take my father to the emergency room for a broken toe, and saw several people there with ashes.
This is actually the first time I’ve seen pictures of it and I’ve never seen anyone in real life.
First living in Utah, then Tokyo now Taiwan.
It is not a strictly Catholic ritual as has been noted but in the US the vast majority of people you’d see practicing are Catholic. OP said Southern Baptist. There are still very few Catholics in many places in the South. And in various parts of the country they would tend to be newcomers so probably less likely to perform visible rituals. In the NY are where I live and other places with a large population of Catholics who have lived in the area a long time, it’s very common to see ashes. Same was true where my daughter lived for awhile in rural Minnesota, in a town/county originally mainly settled by German Catholics, unlike many other rural areas of that state originally settled by Protestants. So not just big cities, but it really varies a lot in the US IME.
At work sure.
At school, no. Ash Wednesday isn’t a day that kids get off in the morning for mass. So unless you go to a Catholic school where they will take you to mass in the morning on Ash Wednesday, you are doing an evening service if you bother with holy days of obligation - or you and your parents are devout enough to pull you for a morning service (which wasn’t the case where I grew up - those kids went to Catholic school).