Thanks to a Malaysian friend who's a fellow Catholic, I came to know about the Ash Wednesday service which was to be held just a short bus ride away from the office.
It was at noon and when I went back to work, every person I met stared. Some even commented that I had dirt on my forehead (technically, it really was dirt). My Indian boss asked what it was for and surprisingly, it was his first time to see the mark although he had worked with Catholic Filipinos for many years. Well, not every Catholic Filipino in Singapore has a Malaysian friend who's a fellow Catholic. :p
So what is Ash Wednesday, anyway, and why do we celebrate it?
BBC provides an explanation:
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent for Western Christian churches. It's a day of penitence to clean the soul before the Lent fast.
Roman Catholic, Anglican, and some other churches hold special services at which worshippers are marked with ashes as a symbol of death, and sorrow for sin.
Ash Wednesday services
The service draws on the ancient Biblical traditions of covering one's head with ashes, wearing sackcloth, and fasting.
The mark of ashes
In Ash Wednesday services churchgoers are marked on the forehead with a cross of ashes as a sign of penitence and mortality.
The use of ashes, made by burning palm crosses from the previous Palm Sunday, is very symbolic.
God our Father, you create us from the dust of the earth.
Grant that these ashes may be for us a sign of our penitence, and a symbol of our mortality.
Traditional Ash Wednesday prayer
The minister or priest marks each worshipper on the forehead, and says remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return, or a similar phrase based on God's sentence on Adam in Genesis 3:19.
The modern practice in Roman Catholic churches nowadays, as the ashes are being administered, is for the priest to say something like Turn away from sin and believe the gospel.
Keeping the mark
At some churches the worshippers leave with the mark still on their forehead so that they carry the sign of the cross out into the world.
At other churches the service ends with the ashes being washed off as a sign that the participants have been cleansed of their sins.
Symbolism of the ashes
The marking of their forehead with a cross made of ashes reminds each churchgoer that:
- Death comes to everyone
- They should be sad for their sins
- They must change themselves for the better
- God made the first human being by breathing life into dust, and without God, human beings are nothing more than dust and ashes
The shape of the mark and the words used are symbolic in other ways:
- The cross is a reminder of the mark of the cross made at baptism
- The phrase often used when the ashes are administered reminds Christians of the doctrine of original sin
- The cross of ashes may symbolise the way Christ's sacrifice on the cross as atonement for sin replaces the Old Testament tradition of making burnt offerings to atone for sin
Where the ashes come from
The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are made by burning the palm crosses that were blessed on the previous Palm Sunday.
Ashes can also be bought from Church suppliers. A bag of ashes big enough for 1000 people costs around £8.
Ashes and oil
The ash is sometimes mixed with anointing oil, which makes sure that the ashes make a good mark.
The use of anointing oil also reminds the churchgoer of God's blessings and of the anointing that took place at their baptism.
From Palm Sunday to Ash Wednesday
Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, so when the crosses used in the Palm Sunday service are converted to ashes, the worshippers are reminded that defeat and crucifixion swiftly followed triumph.
But using the ashes to mark the cross on the believer's forehead symbolises that through Christ's death and resurrection, all Christians can be free from sin.
Thanks to a Malaysian friend who's a fellow Catholic, I came to know about the Ash Wednesday service which was to be held just a short bus ride away from the office.
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