When is Ash Wednesday?

Because Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, people make the effort to begin this period of repentance by coming to Mass and receiving ashes on their foreheads. Last year, Ash Wednesday was on February 17th. That may seem like old news, but our parish gets several calls this time of year asking why we didn’t give out ashes in the middle of February! This is due to a basic misunderstanding about how the dates of holy days are calculated.

Some holy days and feast days of the Church are easy to remember. Christmas is always on December 25th, while St. Patrick’s Day is fixed on March 17th. However, the most important holy day in the liturgical year, Easter Sunday, is a movable feast. It does exactly that – it moves from year to year, within a range of time. When Easter occurs also determines when Ash Wednesday is, as well as Palm Sunday, Ascension Thursday, and Pentecost.

So how is the celebration of our Lord’s Resurrection calculated? In 325, the Church Council of Nicaea set the date of Easter as the first Sunday following the first full moon on or after the vernal or spring equinox. Easter always occur on a Sunday, because Sunday was the day of Christ's Resurrection. As a result, Easter dates can range from March 22 to April 25 in Western Christianity. Just three years ago, in 2008, Easter was on March 23rd, one day short of the earliest it can occur. This year, Easter is on April 24th, one day short of the latest it can be!

Once the date of Easter is known, the other information you need to calculate Ash Wednesday and other related holy days is that there are 6 Sundays in Lent. Count back to the 1st Sunday of Lent, and then back four days to the Wednesday before, and you know exactly when Ash Wednesday is.

Then beginning with Easter as day one, count forward forty days, since that is the length of time Jesus stayed with his apostles after His Resurrection before ascending into Heaven. That 40th day is always a Thursday, and is celebrated as the Ascension of the Lord, except in dioceses like ours, when that celebration is moved to the following Sunday. Pentecost, which means “50th”, is celebrated 10 days later. Following Jesus’ Ascension, the apostles gathered and prayed, and on that 10th day, they received the Holy Spirit.

And that is how the dates of Lent and Easter are determined!