Ash Wednesday
4
3.8
- proper noun
:
Miércoles de Ceniza
- Catholics observe Ash Wednesday by attending Mass and receiving ashes on their foreheads.
Examples
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On Ash Wednesday 2006, Mahony asked Catholics in his archdiocese to devote Lent to fasting, prayer, and reflection on the treatment of immigrants.
Academic text (2008) -
Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Blog text (3) -
The following morning at Ash Wednesday Mass.
Fiction book (1991) -
No need to let on that she'd forgotten all about Ash Wednesday.
Fiction book (1991) -
After a lifetime of churchgoing, I now attend once a year: on Ash Wednesday.
Academic text (2011) -
From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, there would be no consumption of animals (except seafood, of course).
Blog text (30) -
Just weeks before the war began, he called for Christians around the world to observe Ash Wednesday as a day of fasting and prayer for peace.
Academic text (2003) -
The church was full of worshippers on Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent.
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Every year, I remember the solemnity of Ash Wednesday as a day of reflection and repentance.
Surface Forms
Morphology
A learner who knows 'ash' and 'Wednesday' can infer that this refers to a Wednesday involving ashes (i.e., some kind of ritual or marked day), so there is a partial, literal cue. However, the specific meaning—the first day of Lent and its practices of fasting and repentance—is cultural/religious knowledge not predictable from the constituents alone, so full comprehension requires prior exposure.
Etymology
Ash Wednesday gets its name from a church practice of putting ashes on people's foreheads in the shape of a cross, often made from burned palm leaves. That image of ashes as a sign of being sorry and remembering death is why Ash Wednesday marks the start of 'a time of fasting and repentance'.