TURA: Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the holy season of Lent in the Christian calendar has been observed in churches across the Garo Hills with devotees attending in large numbers to receive blessings at the start of the 46 days before celebration of Easter.
Ash Wednesday, which is a day of fasting, is observed by many western Christians, particularly Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Presbyterians. It occurs 46 days (40 fasting days and six Sundays when fasting does not take place) before Easter.
In Tura, priests at the Sacred Heart shrine in Chandmari, the Cathedral church at RC road, St. Mary’s church in Araimile, St. Luke church at Dakopgre and the Montfort church blessed hundreds of worshippers during morning and evening service on Ash Wednesday.
According to the New Testament in the Holy Bible, Jesus Christ spent 40 days fasting in the desert, where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent originated as a mirroring of this, fasting 40 days as preparation for Easter, while Sundays were commemoration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Ash Wednesday derives its name from the practice of blessing ashes made from palm branches blessed on the previous year’s Palm Sunday. The ash is rubbed on the foreheads of devotees with a cross sign to the accompaniment of the words “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”.