Test everything; hold fast to what is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
The Season of Lent
In the Western Church Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and is observed as a day of fasting and the repentance of sins. During the service ashes are placed on our foreheads in the shape of a cross as a reminder of our mortality. The marking also symbolizes the ancient tradition of throwing ash over one's head to show repentance before God.
Ash Wednesday occurs forty-six days before Easter, and it can fall anywhere between February 4 and March 10. Nevertheless, the season of Lent is considered to be forty days long, because Sundays in this period are not counted among the days of the Lent season. The traditional reason for that is that fasting was considered inappropriate on Sunday, the day commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus with bread and wine.
Overall, Lent is a time of reflection and preparation for Holy Week through praying, fasting and acts of charity (almsgiving). In the early church this was the final and intensive period for new converts to be baptized at the Easter Vigil. That has changed and is now a time of preparation for all Christians. The Lenten fast ends at midnight of Holy Saturday, and the Easter Vigil begins.