What can you eat on Ash Wednesday?

One full meal, plus up to two smaller meals that together do not add up to a second full meal — and no meat. Fish is permitted, and so are eggs, milk and other animal products; the abstinence is from the flesh of mammals and birds. Fasting binds Catholics of the Latin Church from their eighteenth birthday until their fifty-ninth; abstinence from meat binds everyone from fourteen. Illness, pregnancy, nursing and other serious reasons excuse a person, and nobody is expected to damage their health to keep it.

Is Ash Wednesday only for Catholics?

No. Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and many other Western Christians keep it, and the ashes are given to anyone who comes forward — receiving them is not a sacrament and carries no requirement to be Catholic or in a state of grace. The fasting and abstinence rules described here are the Latin Catholic ones; other churches keep their own discipline.

Why does this date change every year?

It is fixed to Easter, which is fixed to the moon rather than the calendar: the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21. In 2027 Easter falls on Sunday, March 28, 2027, and the rest of the season moves with it.

Is Ash Wednesday a holy day of obligation?

No, and not in any country. The obligation to attend Mass attaches to Sundays and to the solemnities the Church lists, and Ash Wednesday is neither. It is a penitential day, and it carries a different obligation instead: the fast and the abstinence, which do bind. Put simply, days of obligation are days of feast, and this is a day of fast. What confuses people is the attendance. Churches are fuller on Ash Wednesday than on several days that genuinely do oblige, which says something about what draws people rather than about what the law requires.

Where do the ashes come from?

They are made by burning the blessed palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. The palms that welcomed Christ into Jerusalem become the ashes that begin the season leading to his passion.

Can non-Catholics receive ashes?

Yes. Ashes are a sacramental rather than a sacrament, and they are not restricted the way Holy Communion is. Anyone who comes forward may receive them.

What do the words mean when the ashes are given?

One of two sentences is used. "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" echoes God’s words to Adam and is a plain statement about mortality. "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" is what Christ says at the opening of his preaching in Mark. The first names the problem and the second names the answer.

Ash Wednesday

The day the Church marks you with dust and tells you the truth

Ash Wednesday 2027 begins on Wednesday, February 10, 2027. Below: every key date for the season, what the Church asks of you, and the prayers that belong to it.

Liturgical SeasonBy AngelGuardUpdated Aug 3, 2026

Ash Wednesday 2027 — Key Dates

Starts: Wednesday, February 10, 2027

Ash Wednesday: Wednesday, February 10, 2027

Easter Sunday: Sunday, March 28, 2027

Ash Wednesday Dates 2027–2035

The date moves each year because it is fixed to Easter, which is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox.

Ash Wednesday and the surrounding movable feasts, 2027 to 2035
Year	Ash Wednesday	Palm Sunday	Holy Thursday	Good Friday	Easter Sunday
2027	February 10, 2027	March 21, 2027	March 25, 2027	March 26, 2027	March 28, 2027
2028	March 1, 2028	April 9, 2028	April 13, 2028	April 14, 2028	April 16, 2028
2029	February 14, 2029	March 25, 2029	March 29, 2029	March 30, 2029	April 1, 2029
2030	March 6, 2030	April 14, 2030	April 18, 2030	April 19, 2030	April 21, 2030
2031	February 26, 2031	April 6, 2031	April 10, 2031	April 11, 2031	April 13, 2031
2032	February 11, 2032	March 21, 2032	March 25, 2032	March 26, 2032	March 28, 2032
2033	March 2, 2033	April 10, 2033	April 14, 2033	April 15, 2033	April 17, 2033
2034	February 22, 2034	April 2, 2034	April 6, 2034	April 7, 2034	April 9, 2034
2035	February 7, 2035	March 18, 2035	March 22, 2035	March 23, 2035	March 25, 2035

Counting the days? See how long until Easter — live, and free to embed on a parish site.

Still deciding what to give up? Twelve to choose from — each with a reason and what it actually costs, plus the two thirds of Lent the lists leave out.

Walking the Way of the Cross? All fourteen stations in order — with the prayers at each, and it prints as a booklet.

Giving something up is the easy half. The Litany of Humility — the prayer against the pride underneath it, in full.

Going to confession this season? A full examination of conscience — by the Ten Commandments, and it prints on a plain sheet.

What Is Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Ashes are blessed and marked on the forehead in the shape of a cross, and with them the minister says one of two sentences: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," or "Repent, and believe in the Gospel." The ashes themselves are made by burning the palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. That detail is worth sitting with. The branches that were waved to welcome Christ as king are the same material that is burned and used to mark the beginning of the season that walks toward his death. Enthusiasm is turned into ash, and the ash is what you start from. It is not a holy day of obligation, which surprises people, because it is one of the best-attended days in the Catholic year. Nobody is obliged to be there. They come anyway, which tells you something the rules do not. The mark is deliberately public and deliberately temporary. It wears off by evening. It is not a badge of holiness. If anything it is the opposite, a visible admission that you need Lent. The Gospel read on that very day warns against performing your piety to be seen, and the Church has never seen a contradiction there. The ashes are not a display of virtue. They are a public admission of mortality, worn by people who are about to spend forty days doing something about it.

Observance & Rules

Ash Wednesday is a day of both fasting and abstinence in the Latin Church. Fasting means one full meal, plus up to two smaller meals that together do not equal a second full meal. It binds Catholics from their eighteenth birthday until their fifty-ninth. Abstinence means no meat, and binds everyone aged fourteen and older. Illness, pregnancy, nursing, and other serious reasons excuse a person. You do not need to be heroic about it, and you do not need permission to look after your health. You may receive ashes whether or not you are Catholic, and whether or not you are able to receive Communion. Ashes are a sacramental rather than a sacrament, and no one is turned away from them.

Practical Guide

Go, even if you have been away from the Church for years. Ash Wednesday is the day the largest number of people who feel unsure about their place walk back in, and every priest knows it. Nothing is asked of you at the door. Decide what your Lent is before you go, not after. Walking out with ashes and no plan is how the first week disappears. One thing given up, one thing taken on, one act of giving. Write it down. If you have not been to confession in a long time, this is the day the queues are longest and the awkwardness is lowest, because everyone in the line is there for the same reason. And leave the ashes on. Not to be seen, but because rubbing them off in the car park is a small act of embarrassment about something that is simply true.

Prayers for Ash Wednesday

Morning Offering

Start your day with God

First Station — Jesus Is Condemned to Death

Jesus Is Condemned to Death

Complete Holy Rosary

Guided Rosary with meditations

Scripture for This Season

Bible Verses About Forgiveness

Scripture on being forgiven by God and finding the grace to forgive others.

Bible Verses About Trust

Scripture for learning to lean on God rather than on your own understanding.

Where this falls in the year

Part ofLentFebruary 10, 2027
See alsoHoly Days of Obligation

Frequently Asked Questions

Ash Wednesday 2027 falls on Wednesday, February 10, 2027 — always 46 days before Easter Sunday, which is Sunday, March 28, 2027 this year.

Today in the Liturgical Calendar

Thursday, September 17

Ordinary Time

Upcoming · Sep 23

St. Padre Pio

See the full liturgical calendar — every feast this year, and an embed for your parish site.

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