Catholics kicked off Lent on Wednesday, Feb. 22 with the application of ashes on their foreheads as they prepared to embark on the pre-Easter season of sacrifice.

“Tomorrow begins Lent, a solemn season of repentance in preparation for the joyous celebrations of Easter,” Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron said on Twitter on the eve on Lent. “On #EyesOnJesus this month, we discuss how to ‘live Lent’ in our families and reflect on God's power to help us grow in holiness.” 

The date of Ash Wednesday changes every year, but it always comes 46 days before Easter Sunday. Although the day is primarily observed by Catholics, many other Christians also mark the day. 

The observance of Ash Wednesday has its roots in a traditional Jewish custom of fasting and repentance, Catholic Online explained. Catholics usually have a cross of ash applied to their foreheads during the Ash Wednesday Mass. The ash comes from palm branches that were part of the previous year's Palm Sunday service. Ashes, which have been blessed, are used because they remind people that humans came from dust. 

When the priest applies the ashes, Catholic Online reported, he usually recites a phrase, either ”Remember that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return,” or "repent and believe in the Gospel.” 

Lent will end April 6, which will be this year’s celebration of Holy Thursday. Lent is observed for the entire 46 days. It calls for 40 days of fasting and six Sundays where fasting is not a requirement. Meat is traditionally not supposed to be consumed on Fridays during Lent. Exceptions to these guidelines are made for children and elderly individuals, USA Today said in a report. 

Lent is one of the holiest times of the liturgical year. It is a time of preparation to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Catholics participate in the practice of self-sacrifice by giving up something they enjoy such as a favorite food, sugar, coffee, television, social media, gaming, alcohol and other luxuries, the USA Today article said. Lent is intended to be a period of spiritual reflection and devotion.

This year, Pope Francis urged the faithful to "rediscover the joy, not of accumulating material goods, but of caring for those who are poor and afflicted,” to put God at the center of one's life and pray and dialogue with him from the heart, and to become free "from the dictatorship of full schedules, crowded agendas and superficial needs, and choose the things that truly matter,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said.