This year I will be participating in Ash Wednesday and Lent. Because I know some people don’t know what those really are I found some stuff on Wikipedia.org that might help answer some questions. For a full description go to www.Wikipedia.org

Ash Wednesday.
In the Western Christian Calendar, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It occurs forty days before Easter not counting Sundays (which are not included in Lent), and forty-four calendar days (counting Sundays) before Good Friday.

Masses and Services are traditionally held on this day at which attendees are blessed with ashes by the pastor celebrating the Mass or Service. The pastor marks the forehead of each participant with black ashes, traditionally in the shape of a cross, leaving a mark that the worshipper traditionally leaves on his or her forehead until sundown, before washing it off.
Often these Ash Wednesday ashes are made by burning Palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations and mixing them with olive oil as a fixative. In Roman Catholicism Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence, and the ashes are considered a sacrament.

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are permitted to consume only one full meal each day, which may be supplemented by two smaller meals, which together should not equal the full meal. The church encourages fasting during Lent, but there is no fasting on Sunday.

Lent.
In Western Christianity, Lent is the period before the Christian holy day of Easter. It covers the forty days before Easter, not including Sundays.

Whereas Easter celebrates The Resurrection of Jesus after his death on the Cross, Lent is concerned with preparation for Holy Week (also known as Passion Week for Catholics who worship in the new rite of the Mass), which recalls the events leading up to and including Jesus’ crucifixion by Rome.