The beginning of Lent
When Is Ash Wednesday?
Lent moves every year, because Easter does. This page works the date out for you — and keeps working it out, year after year, without anyone having to update it.
Working it out…
Why the date moves
Ash Wednesday is not fixed to a calendar date. It is counted backwards from Easter — precisely forty-six days before it. Forty of those are the fast; the six Sundays inside Lent are not counted, because every Sunday is a small Easter and one does not fast on a feast.
And Easter itself moves, because it is tied to the moon rather than the sun: it falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox. So the whole season drifts with it, and Ash Wednesday can land anywhere from early February to early March.
The dates of Lent this year
| Day | Date |
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Ash Wednesday in the years ahead
| Year | Ash Wednesday | Easter Sunday |
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What happens on the day
Lent is one of the six seasons of the Church’s year, and the most demanding of them. Ashes are blessed and marked on the forehead in the shape of a cross, with one of two sentences: Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return, or Repent, and believe in the Gospel. The ashes are made from the burnt palms of the previous year's Palm Sunday — last year's celebration becomes this year's penance.
Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence (canon 1251). In the Latin Church fasting ordinarily means one full meal, with two smaller ones that together do not equal a full meal; abstinence means no meat. Canon 1252 binds to the fast those who have reached the age of majority — eighteen — until the beginning of their sixtieth year, that is, until their fifty-ninth birthday. Abstinence binds from the completed fourteenth year and has no upper age limit. Those who are ill, pregnant, nursing, or otherwise genuinely unable are excused; the point is repentance, not injury.
It is not one of the holy days of obligation, though churches are often fuller on Ash Wednesday than on days that are. Many parishes begin the Stations of the Cross in this season too. Conferences of bishops may adjust the precise form of the fast for their own countries (canon 1253), so local practice can differ in detail.
Dates here follow the Roman calendar of the Latin Church. Eastern Catholic Churches and the Orthodox reckon Lent differently and may begin on a different day. Always check your own parish or diocesan calendar.
Common questions
When is Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday falls forty-six days before Easter Sunday. Because Easter moves with the lunar calendar, Ash Wednesday can fall anywhere between early February and early March. This page calculates the exact date for the current year automatically.
Why is Lent forty-six days if it is a forty day fast?
There are forty-six days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, but the six Sundays within Lent are not counted as fast days. Every Sunday is a celebration of the Resurrection, and one does not fast on a feast, which leaves forty days of fasting.
Is Ash Wednesday a day of fasting and abstinence?
Yes. In the Latin Church it is both. Fasting means one full meal and two smaller ones that together do not equal a full meal, and binds those aged eighteen to fifty-nine. Abstinence from meat binds those aged fourteen and older.
Where do the ashes come from?
The ashes are made by burning the blessed palms from the previous year's Palm Sunday. They are then blessed and marked on the forehead in the shape of a cross, so that last year's celebration becomes the sign of this year's repentance.
Is Ash Wednesday a holy day of obligation?
No. Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation, so there is no requirement to attend Mass. In practice churches are often fuller on Ash Wednesday than on many days that do carry an obligation.
What is said when the ashes are given?
One of two formulas is used. Either 'Remember that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return,' taken from Genesis, or 'Repent, and believe in the Gospel,' taken from the opening of Mark.
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