Religion Experience - Research Paper Example

It is important to note that Roman Catholic and some of its splinter affiliates has the majority believers population among the Christians and the world at large and this explains why this is a globally observed period with internationally recognized periods of Holiday (Catholic University of America,2002). It is important to understand the underlying concepts that constitute the entire season and the subsequent holidays which have a lot of meaning to the Christian faithful. East results from the lent season which constitutes 40 days after which the Pentecost season begins lasting 50 days.

Due to its focus on this symbolic event in the life of Jesus from whom the Christian believers derive their spiritual identity, it remains the central point on which all other religious activities calendar is drawn. It is worth to note that the Easter season is dotted with many other special days before and after and one such a day is Ash Wednesday. This an exclusive day which marks the first day of Lent and falls within the months of February 14th and March 11th at an estimated six and half weeks prior to Easter.

Archival records of the early Christianity indicate varied length of lent which was later fixed at 40 days from the 7th century. The lent period is set at 40 days which is consistent with the period Jesus took starving in the wilderness. In respect of that doctrine, believers are expected to go through a period of fasting and sacrificing much of their time praying and helping the needy in the society (Wilkinson & Charing, 2004). This solidifies the faith by an action slogan that is much talked about in the bible and other theological scholarly works.

Abstinence from sexual intercourse from every believer is equally expected during this special season as it is generally dedicated to the service of God. The most common mark of celebrating this Ash Wednesday is the smearing of ash on the forehead of the participants as a symbol of penance and this is attached to blessings. It is worth to note that some aspects of this event have changed over time. This is in regard to the application of ash on the forehead exclusively on participants which has lately changed to a case where ash is given to the entire congregation during the service and all members in attendance are marked.

The religious connotations that were directed towards this event have equally changed from the traditional likening of human being to dust and the new idea of preaching repentance (Catholic University of America, 2002). It is also important to notice that this ash is derived from the burnt palm fronds which previously had been used during the Palm Sunday. Within the larger concept of the Easter season, on-catholic churches like the Eastern Orthodox celebrate clean Monday which begins with the lent period and the only difference in the catholic version is skipping of Sunday with a claim that Jesus resurrected on Sunday.

During the Easter season, Passion Sunday is also celebrated as a commemoration to the maiden entry of Jesus to Jerusalem before he was crucified some days later. The event actually proceeds through a procession of palm fronds which constitutes blessing and the same are later burnt to produce ash for the next year’s Ash Wednesday. There are fifty days of Easter season between the end of lent and the Holy Saturday. It is important to note that Holy Saturday is very significant in respect to the celebration of the Easter holiday.

This is the day when most Christians across the world begin to prepare for Easter services (Wilkinson & Charing, 2004). In the historic periods of the Christianity people engaged in an overnight fasting in preparation for baptismal of new