STARTING February 14, the Catholics will start observing Ash Wednesday—marking the start of the Lent season.
The Lent season is one of the events that most Filipinos anticipate as it serves as a period of commemoration to Christ’s passion, suffering, death, and resurrection.
While many people are to celebrate Valentines day on February 14, some Filipinos are set to commemorate the beginning of Lent season by visiting their church for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is traditionally a somber holiday on where a priest would will dip their finger into an ashtray and spread it to a person’s forehead in a shape of cross.
The ashes to be spread on a person’s forehead came from the burnt palm branches from the previous year’s palm sunday.
In the Philippines, the Lent season is mostly referred to as: ‘Mahal na Araw or Semana Santa.’It begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Black Saturday and Easter Sunday. Other events that occur during this time include Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.
Many people are well familiar with the dates of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday due to it being a public holiday. Meanwhile, there is the following dates of events that people should remember for the upcoming Lent this year:
- February 18 – First Sunday of Lent
- March 17 – Passion Sunday
- March 24 – Palm Sunday
- March 28 – Holy Thursday
- March 29 – Good Friday
- March 30 – Holy Saturday
- March 31 – Easter Sunday
There are forty days of Lent, excluding Sundays. There is significance in the fact that it is 40 days.
