The most visible sign of the Ash Wednesday service is the ashes themselves. Each parish typically makes its own from the palms that were blessed during the previous year’s Palm Sunday services. The palms are burned in a metal vessel and then broken down into a powder.
Ash Wednesday is just the start of the Lenten season, with its traditional pillars of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, so how do you carry the spirit of the day forward? Set aside some time on this day to talk with your family – or yourself – and set manageable, tangible goals for the Lenten season. It may be attending weekly Stations of the Cross as a family, working together on a service project, making a meatless meal from another country and learning about its history, or blocking off daily time for more intense personal reflection and prayer.