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Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent for Christians and lasts 40 days (including Sundays) , which is the length of time Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness preparing for his teaching and healing ministry (Matthew 4:2, Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2). It is a time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
The Ash wednesday practice of placing ashes on the forehead (observed mostly in Catholic, Episcopal, Greek Orthodox churches and in some Protestant churches) symbolizes repentance and mortality. Its Bible reference is taken from Genesis 3:13 "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return"
The start of Lent is variable and its length is 46 days before Easter Sunday and (in the West) is based on the Gregorian calenday. The 6 Sundays during Lent are considered non-fasting and thus are not counted as days of lent.
Easter Sunday is a moveable feast which falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. After the date for Easter Sunday is determined, the date for the Ash Wednesday start of lent is calculated. Based on this formula, the earliest and lastest dates for Easter Sunday are March 22nd and April 25th respectively. [The Greek Orthodox Church calculates the date for Easter using the Julian calender. Also, Easter follows the Jewish Passover and has a later date ranging from April 4th to May 8th.
This year, 2026, Palm Sunday (celebrating Jesus' triumphal last entry into Jerusalem) occurs on April 29 beginning Holy Week with Holy Thursday (Jesus' last supper with his apostles and his arrest) and Good Friday (Jesus' death on the cross) following and leading up to Easter (Jesus rises from the dead) on Sunday April 5th.
