It Smells Like Ash In Here

This Ash Wednesday thing has spread beyond the Catholic community; my ex-mother-in-law, who was raised evangelical/baptist but belongs now to the Disciples of Christ, practices this ritual. So to some Anglicans and Episcopalians I have run into through the years. My ex-wife, returned to the fundamentalist religion of her upbringing (part of the reason for my pushing for divorce after separating for other issues, such as her being an utter control freak and emotionally abusive) did not observe the practice. She rejected a lot of Christian traditions on account of their being "not Biblical", too.

From my limited perspective there seems to be an uptick in the observance of this ritual. I probably would've done the same as Brent...especially if the smudge was not cross-shaped to give me a hint. I also agree the Hindu dot thing is so everyday that it's completely unremarkable, like an orthodox Jew wearing a yamica or a Sikh wearing a turban. If they only did these things once a year marking some obscure anniversary not widely known in the wider culture, I'd probably be mystified by that also.

What's funny are those situations where the atheist knows more about a religion and its holy text than a believer does, and can make cogent, valid comparisons to other belief systems that the theist has no clue about.

The guys at my local store ususally have dots on their foreheads. I still get a kick out of people walking around with shit on their foreheads or not eating meat on a Friday so they can feel the full sacrifice Jesus went through....or something.

"How," he asked with a supercilious sneer barely under control, "can anyone not realize it's Ash Wednesday?"

The tunnel vision of some believers never ceases to amaze me. How do you live in this country and not figure out that not everyone in the world practices your religion?

Here's what I suggest: Make up a holiday that celebrates the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Go back to the store with some spaghetti sauce smudged on your chin. When the clerk points it out to you, get very offended, and ask, "How can anyone not realize that it's the Glorious Festival of Meatballs?"

I've done it to my wife almost every year since we've met. By accident. Every time. It's embarrasing. Fortunately, she couldn't make it to mass this year, so I didn't have to remember (unfortunately, I remembered this year).

I've seen it referred to as "Schmutz Wednesday", as in, "There's some schmutz on your forehead."

I like the Yiddish bit. It's not quite irony, but close.

Back when I was a T.A., one of the students had a smudge on her forehead one day, and I came very, very close to doing what you did. Fortunately, I caught myself and figured it out in time. There's no reason for a teacher to be discussing religion with a student in a Math class...

.....I was surprised to realize it was Ash Wednesday. You'd think they'd postpone it to some less busy week. {GRIN}

Jesus' warning against public piety:

"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

Matthew 6:5-6

Would you (or have you) made the same comments about the Indian women with a similar kind of red smear between their eyes that they wear almost every day? Are you being consistent with your ridicule of what you think is a superstitious custom?

"I believe in preaching to the converted; for I have generally found that the converted do not understand their own religion." -G.K. Chesterton

It's not a stone age public religious ritual, it's an iron age one.

In my freshman year at college, I was still living at home and had not come out as an atheist. I enjoyed skipping the ash wednesday rigmarole but then as I was about to go home that evening, I realized I would catch holy hell if I didn't have that little smudge on my forehead. So I fished a butt out of an ashtray and gave myself a smudge, then went home and told my mother I had gone to the campus chapel. Funny how an old cigarette butt works just as well as the magic ash thingy that a priest has prayed over and filled with the holy spirit or whatever.

- No More Mr. Nice Guy!

How do I know that some "gentlemen's club," somewhere, sometime, once had a weekly event called ... wait for it ... Ass Wednesday.

Okay, that was crude. But still ...

One of my regulars came into the bar today and I asked her what happened to her head. I thought it was a bruise.

You were just concerned. You didn't want the kid making an ash of himself.

Not two minutes after I finished reading this, my supervisor came back from a meeting in the executive director's office and said to my co-worker and myself "Whatever you do, don't tell her, "Hey, you've got a little smudge right here."(rubs forehead) Fucking hilarious. We're all pretty mellow around here though-no one is expected to be aware of the boss's particular superstitions.

I have some vague memories about being told about Ash Wednesday, but what little churching I had was protestant, so I had forgotten about the ash-on-the-forehead thing. It's funny to me-my boss, who is about as modern a catholic as you could meet, is the first person I can remember seeing with the smudge in years.

When my supervisor jokingly asked me what I was giving up for lent, I gave my standard reply: Catholicism.

I grew up in Amarillo, Texas, where virtually all Catholics were Hispanic and lived across town. When I went to Michigan for college I was mystified one day by all the kids walking around with smudges on their foreheads. I had literally never heard of the custom. I finally asked a friend who explained it to me. It struck me as being very weird, but then I was programmed by my background to think everything Catholics did was weird.

What the hell is an Ash Wednesday?

Perfect answer. I salute you!