It’s a non event for me. I never knew anything about it other than seeing on a calendar until I met my wife. We’d been dating for quite a few years before I happened to see her on an Ash Wednesday. Of course, not knowing anything about it, I told her that she had dirt on her forehead.
Now that we’re married, it’s still only a slight blip on the radar. She went to mass last night, I stayed home and ate leftovers. We’ll have to be more picky on our restaurants if we go out on Friday night so she can get something that passes the “Lent filter” as I’ve taken to calling it.
I only knew it was a religious holiday because it’s on the calendar. Nobody in Montreal or Vancouver does anything about it
The first time I saw ashes was a man-on-the-street interview one of my colleagues did when I was living in NYC. I was 30.
LDS here, I’d heard of it from books and things–and you would think in the town I grew up in I would have seen it, since we had a large Catholic population–but I was an adult before I really figured it out properly (and not in college, since I went to godless Berkeley). I still have to think about it, though, I don’t automatically realize that Shrove Tuesday—>Ash Wednesday—>Lent—>Easter.
Today I saw a kid with ashes on her forehead and was proud that I knew what it was!
Raised Evangelical Covenant (a version of Protestant). At the time, Ash Wednesday itself was not a big deal - it was kind of there on the calendar, but at my particular church, we never really did anything for it. Lent as a season was slightly more emphasized, but not so much about giving something up as taking time to do more spiritual introspection. But Holy Week is when things really started to kick in.
Currently attending a Presbyterian church. There is an Ash Wednesday service; I didn’t go this year, so I’ve no idea how well it was attended. There will also an extra series of morning services during the week during Lent. Also, all of the green banners will get replaced by the purplish banners. But again, Holy Week will be when things really start to kick in.
Episcopalian. We had pancakes on Tuesday and I went to the noonday service on Wednesday for the eucharist and imposition of ashes. We also observe Lent and the rest of the liturgical calendar.
The only thing I really dislike about the Straight Dope (and I’ve been here a long time) is how these type of insults are tolerated. It’s further than that: Embraced.
As far as I know, only Catholics and Episcopalians observe Ash Wednesday and Lent, so for most of us it’s not only a not big deal, it’s not a deal at all. I’m not exactly sure what you all are doing with either the ashes on your foreheads or those dried up palms later on my great-grandmother would tack to the wall, but I know both (and lent in general) fall between Mardi Gras and Easter.
[Official Moderator Warning]This is an inappropriate response for an IMHO thread, and you’ve certainly been here long enough to know that.[/Official Moderator Warning]
And when used to identify that particular religion, “Catholic” is capitalized.
I had my choice of 2 Presbyterian churches within walking distance. Both offer imposition of the ashes, although this is a fairly recent development in PC(USA).
It was important enough to get me to go to church, which I haven’t done in a couple of years. Receiving ashes is second only to communion in how it makes me feel.
Raised D. C. Baptist - I had heard of Ash Wednesday but had no idea what it was. As an adult, I knew it had something to do with Catholicism, but that’s all. That is, until at the office one day, I ran into a co-worker and pointed out that she had a smudge on her forehead. She clued me in and she wasn’t offended, but she didn’t explain what the “ash” or ceremony represented (I felt a tad embarrassed and didn’t inquire further). I still don’t know.
Okay…you know what Palm Sunday is, right? The Sunday before Easter, when Jesus entered Jerusalem? Well, every year before Ash Wednesday the palm fronds from the previous year are burned and the ashes used in the Ash Wednesday service.
At the imposition of the ashes, the congregation lines up to go to the front of the church, where the priest will dip his thumb in the (cooled) ashes and make the sign of the cross on the congregant’s forehead, intoning, “Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”
As to the meaning of it, it’s to remind us of our fallen state at the beginning of the Lenten season, so that when Holy Week and Easter arrive, we’ll remember WHY Jesus had to come to die for us.
Not bad for not having been actively Catholic for 18 years, huh?
I was raised Lutheran and the church we attended normally had a service on Wednesday nights anyway. Turnout may have been somewhat higher on Ash Wednesday than the other 51 weeks of the year, but nothing close to packing out the sanctuary. The Lutherans are another denomination that are fairly liturgically close to the Catholics, after all.
Catholics may just have ashes smeared on their foreheads, but the ministers of churches I’ve attended (generally United Methodist) generally mix a little water or oil into the ashes. Thus sometimes I’ve ended up with a huge black drippy cross on my forehead.
This year, my church did something a little different and the assistant pastor made a cross on my forehead with the Holy oil, and then the senior pastor made a cross on my forehead with ashes.
As mentioned by jayjay, “Sunday’s palms are Wednesday’s ashes, as another year begins” (yes, that’s a song I sung on Ash Wednesday).
The really odd part for me this year, was that after we returned to our seats after the ashes bit, we then had some prayer time and then had Communion by intinction at the rail. (Communion by intiction is normal to me–intinction means you dip a bit of bread which has been torn off the loaf into the cup of grape juice–it’s just usually done standing, not kneeling at the rail. If taking Communion at the rail, it is more common in my experience for there to be individual cups of grape juice, and pre-broken/cut pieces of bread or cracker).
Also weird was the guy with the camera–I’m not sure why our church was chosen, but pictures from the service appeared in yesterday’s newspaper.
Southern Baptist here; I never heard of it until I dated a Catholic girl in high school. Thinking back, though, I honestly don’t remember ever seeing anyone with ashes on their forehead. If I did, it just didn’t register. I’ve said before that I’m not a very observant person.
