Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is a holiday of obligation for Catholics. Meaning they are encouraged to hear mass and have their foreheads marked with specially created ashes as symbol of repentance.

Ash Wednesday is also the start of Lent. Lent is an annual commemoration of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His death is popularly remembered during Holy Week and culminates on Easter Sunday. 

The ashes imposed on the forehead of Catholics are made of palm leaves which the church collected from last year's Palm Sunday. These leaves are burned to ashes and added with holy water or oil. This ash is a sacramental symbol not a sacrament by itself. It can be put to any Catholic who wishes to receive it unlike the Catholic Sacraments where it should be received to be part of a Catholic Church. 

Elitedresses.com offers appropriate church dresses for these occasions and other religious celebrations such as First Communion.