Outside Reading: Holidays

I read an article on Ash Wednesday. This is a holiday starting Lent in the Christian religion. Lent is a 40 day period in time leading to Easter, when Jesus rose from the dead. People usually give up something as a sacrifice that is keeping them away from their relationship with God. This helps people remember the sacrifice that Jesus paid for all sins. In a typical Ash Wednesday service you get ashes in the shape of a cross put on your forehead with the words "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" said, to remind people that we start as ashes and end as dust. Three days before Easter is Good Friday which is the day that Jesus was crucified. People may get confused with the whole Easter bunny aspect of the holiday. This has nothing to do with the religious part of the holiday, it is probably just some marketing technique to get people to buy cute little candy bunnies and share them with family as a gift. The bunnies and colored eggs are just a fun way to celebrate the holiday.