Connect is a Melting Pot of different cultures, languages, races and the people who make them up.
Across these different cultures, several customs and traditions are prevalent.
I want to share with you one which took place today; “Ash Wednesday”.
A simple search on Google will tell you all about it but I will like to share with you three things.
- The Ashes used for signing the forehead is the Ash gotten from the Palms used on the ‘Palm Sunday’ of the Previous year.
- Everyone who professes the faith must receive the Ash, as it signifies; the beginning of the season of ‘Lent’; a season associated with fasting, prayer, and Almsgiving in repentance of sins and in preparation for Easter.
- Everyone is a Vegetarian on this day as we are forbidden to eat Meat or Meat Products.
Ash Wednesday during the Ongoing Pandemic
- In almost every corner of the world, there was no Palm Sunday last year because of the COVID-19 Lockdown. I wondered from Monday, the 15th of February, 2021, where the Palms would be gotten from for this year’s Ash Wednesday because of this.
- Also, In some parts of the world today, all they can look at is their pictures from last year as their Churches are still not oopen.
My thoughts
- Did you receive Ash today? What lesson did it teach you?
- In almost every culture of the world, there is a signing on the head, ? why not the legs or shoulders or elsewhere? Is it because one can do without all these other parts and cannot do without the Head?
This is so important that; I remember once I was far away from home on Ash Wednesday, I had to look for a place to receive Ash. I shared a post about it some months
ago on Connect. No tag? Yes. Find it.
Did you receive Ash this year? How different was it from the previous years?
I received Ashes today at; Ss. Joachim and Anne, Ijegun