because we were formed for ashes and we will return to ashes when we die.

By:snakeman

nomadic

Yes, it is a penitential day, today (Ash Wednesday), so no meat.

And no meat on the Fridays of Lent, either.

The Catechism tells you:

Quote:

1438 The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church's penitential practice.36 These times are particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages as signs of penance, voluntary self-denial such as fasting and almsgiving, and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works).

The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is commonly referred to as "Fat Tuesday."

As a generic culinary and butchery term of art, "meat" refers to the muscular flesh of a mammal. This is the definition most commonly applied by governments in meat product regulation and food labeling, and in religious rites and rituals. Edible birds and fish/seafood are not "meat" under this application but are treated separately from mammals. Likewise, amphibians and reptiles, not to mention the "meat" of edible insects, arachnids, and so on. Religious rites and rituals regarding food also tend to apply this distinction, classifying the birds of the air and the fish of the sea separately from land-bound mammals. Sea-bound mammals are often treated as fish under religious laws. Following is stated in the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church. Can. 1250 The penitential days and times in the universal Church are every Friday of the whole year and the season of Lent. Can. 1251 Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Please click the link below for information.

Yes, most recently in 1967, 1978, and 1989. It will not fall on February 8th again until 2062.

The ash of the palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. The priest or an extraordinary minister imposes the ashes on the forehead of the faithful during the Mass on Ash Wednesday as a sign of repentance for sin.

Ash Wednesday is sometimes in February and sometimes in March. It is not on a specific date.

Traditionally from the ashes of the Palm Crosses used in the previous year's Palm Sunday celebration and mixed with the Oil of Catechumens which is a sacred oil used in Baptisms.

Probably has to do with getting cremated after you die.

Ha, ha, ha! No it is part of the Anglican (Church of England, Episcopalian) burial service: "ashes to ashes, dust to dust". Ashes and dust are synonymous terms which mean "dirt". (This is why "ashcan" means the same as "dustbin") The sense is that we start out as dirt (see the book of Genesis for the story of Adam being created from dirt) and we end up as dirt. Our physical existance is just a passing phase, so we should not grieve overmuch over the death of loved ones.

They aren't the ashes of a person. The tradition is that it is the ashes of the bails from the wickets of the first Ashes test. The name came from a editorial of a newspaper saying (after an English defeat) that English cricket had died and the ashes sent to Australia.

Burnt Palm Leaves

The ashes are burnt from the palms of the past year's Palm Sunday and they represent the sin that we have and the death that we will face (as in "for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return" Genesis 3:19). That sounds really morbid, but it's a way to begin and prepare yourself for the season of Lent, remembering sins and the redemption that has been given to us all.

Since the new translation they now say "Repent and believe in the Gospel" or "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.", either one is acceptable.

The law of abstinence requires a Catholic 14 years of age until death to abstain from eating meat on Fridays in honor of the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Meat is considered to be the flesh and organs of mammals and fowl. Moral theologians have traditionally considered this also to forbid soups or gravies made from them. Salt and freshwater species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and shellfish are permitted, as are animal derived products such as margarine and gelatin which do not have any meat taste.

On the Fridays outside of Lent the U.S. bishops conference obtained the permission of the Holy See for Catholics in the US to substitute a penitential, or even a charitable, practice of their own choosing. Since this was not stated as binding under pain of sin, not to do so on a single occasion would not in itself be sinful. However, since penance is a divine command, the general refusal to do penance is certainly gravely sinful. For most people the easiest way to consistently fulfill this command is the traditional one, to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year which are not liturgical solemnities. When solemnities, such as the Annunciation, Assumption, All Saints etc. fall on a Friday, we neither abstain or fast.

During Lent abstinence from meat on Fridays is obligatory in the United States as elsewhere, and it is sinful not to observe this discipline without a serious reason (physical labor, pregnancy, sickness etc.).

(From ETWN)

The thing that holds dead man ashes is called an Urn I believe :)

The ashes urn is not exactly kept in mcg but at the mcc cricket museum at lords.... along with the score card of the match in 1882

No, because Ash Wednesday as we now know it did not exist then.

Of course, Ashes are a sacramental used to remind the faithful of death and the necessity of penance and contrition. The use of ashes, expressing humiliation and sorrow, was common in ancient religions and is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. The Church has used them for centuries for public penitents, and for Ash Wednesday and Lent in particular. The use on Ash Wednesday is about the only use that most people in the modern world know of.

To remind us ashes to ashes we are nothing better than dirt