Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, occurring 46 days before Easter (40 days not counting Sundays). Catholics receive ashes on their forehead in the sign of the cross, with the words 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return' or 'Repent, and believe in the Gospel.' The ashes are made from burning the palm branches from the previous year's Palm Sunday. Ash Wednesday is a day of both fasting (one full meal and two smaller meals for ages 18-59) and abstinence from meat (for ages 14+). It is not a Holy Day of Obligation, but it is one of the most attended services of the year. The ashes symbolize mortality, penance, and the beginning of the Lenten journey.