Reference > The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy > 5. World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion
  PREVIOUS NEXT  
CONTENTS · INDEX · GUIDE · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
  The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition.  2002.
 
Ash Wednesday
 
 
The seventh Wednesday before Easter; the first day of Lent for most Christians; the day after “Fat Tuesday,” or Mardi Gras. It is frequently observed as a day of fasting and repentance for sin. In some churches, ashes are placed on the foreheads of worshipers on Ash Wednesday as a reminder of their mortality. The words of God to Adam in the Bible are often used in the ceremony: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”  1
 
 
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS · INDEX · GUIDE · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
  PREVIOUS NEXT  
 
Google
Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore.
Welcome · Press · Advertising · Linking · Terms of Use · © 2008 Bartleby.com