Many may not know what Ash Wednesday is or why Lincoln County people wear cross-shaped ash on their foreheads.
Ash Wednesday begins Lent. It focuses Christians on repentance and prayer via personal and community confession.
46 days before Easter is Lent. Repentance, fasting, introspection, and celebration mark the 40-day season, excluding Sundays.
Ash Wednesday is most often observed at Catholic Mass or Lutheran liturgy, but other Protestant Christian faiths and churches also observe it.
The service is usually quiet and reflective.
The priest or pastor applies cross-shaped ashes to the congregation's foreheads after confession and prayer.
Burning palm branches from Palm Sunday, when churches remember Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem before his crucifixion and resurrection, produces the ashes.
The First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. established Lent, whose roots are unknown.
Lent 2023 important dates
Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22Palm Sunday, April 2Holy Week, April 2-8Maundy Thursday, April 6Good Friday, April 7Easter (Resurrection) Sunday, April 9