Christians observe Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent

Scores of Christians around the world, including in Guyana, observed Ash Wednesday yesterday – a day believers receive an ash cross on their foreheads placed there by a priest or minister of religion to symbolise their acknowledgment that they have sinned and will repent.
Ash Wednesday represents one’s grief and mourning for their sins. The day also marks the start of Lent, a period of fast that leads up to Easter, the day Christians believe Jesus was resurrected.
During this period, believers choose to honour the 40 days that Jesus, according to the Bible, spent in the desert after his baptism, during which he was tempted by Satan.

The imposition of ash on the forehead is full of the symbolism of repentance and conversion. When the priest applies the cross of ashes, he says to the worshiper: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” He also may say, “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
Ash Wednesday is also a time when some Christians give up a thing or things that they enjoy, as a form of fasting, to see themselves in a ‘new light’.
Guyana Times visited the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Brickdam, Georgetown during midday mass on Wednesday and observed a large number of persons had congregated. Bishop Francis Alleyne, Head of the Catholic Church in Guyana, in an interview, explained that Lent should help to bring into focus the issues in the country and around the world.
“A day like this should help to bring that all into focus what these things are…because we are people of faith, this should show us what we ought to be doing to displace those troubling things,” he said.

“My feelings about this event are very strong, given some of the very troubling realities that we have in our world, and we can also point to some of those troubling realities we have here in our nation”, he said.
This year, instead of receiving ashes in the shape of a cross on the forehead, which is unsafe in this time of the pandemic, persons were still able to receive them by sprinkling on top of the head – a return to a centuries-old way of receiving ashes.
“To try and maintain the COVID requirements, we also did an extra service, so that some of the crowd will be able to observe there. We also put tents outside, so that we can still ask people to keep distancing and to keep their masks and everything on”, Father Alleyne said.
This publication also spoke with some of those who attended the service, who shared what this period means in their lives.
Patricia Debydial said, “During this period, I don’t have anything to put aside, because I do nothing. I just keep my fast 40 days and 40 nights, and I like to give alms. I have been in this religion from birth…and as I get older, I remain in it”.
Another believer, Jerald Williams, said, “…this is preparing for Easter, and we make some form of sacrifice, something that you like, and you try to abstain from it. If you can do it every year, you will find yourself getting rid of a lot of things that you would be doing wrong.
“Drinking and smoking is something that is completely out of my life now, because of this time…” he said.
The period of Lent ends after Good Friday, which marks the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.