Ash ritual

Forty days and forty nights of penance, reflection and fasting began in the Christian community yesterday, Ash Wednesday.
The start of the Lenten season found several people in the house of God across Barbados, particularly the Anglican and Catholic churches.
As is the tradition, foreheads were marked with ash signifying that hearts must be humbled and that life passes away on earth.
During yesterday’s midday Ash Wednesday service at St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, Monsignor Vincent Blackett carried out the ritual several times.
Here, he places an ashen cross on the forehead of a member of the congregation. (AC)