Ash Wednesday | 圣灰星期三

As a non-religious person, I didn't know about Ash Wednesday until this week. We were sitting in the meeting room for weekly team meeting. There came one of the colleague, when she walked into the room, she said it out loud that "I had a shower this morning" and giggled. I wasn't sure what she was talking about, and was wondering why she said that. Isn't it weird to claim that you had shower in front of your colleagues? And then I saw ash or some grey marks on her forehead, I said "Em, just so you know you have something on your forehead". She laughed and said, that's what I was talking about! And then the other colleague explained me what that is about.

Ash Wednesday is a Christian holy day for peace. People will place repentance ashes on the foreheads. Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting and repentance.

Isn't it nice to know about this? At least next year, if I see people having ashes on their forehead or joke about having shower, I won't be surprised and can fully get it!

作为一个非宗教信徒，我对一些宗教文化并不知晓。这周三，我们坐在会议室里等待所有同事到来召开例会。一位同事走了进来，并大声说道“我早上洗澡了”！ 我在纳闷着，为什么她要这么说，非常奇怪。你洗不洗澡关大家什么事，为什么要当众讲出来。我一抬头，看到她的额头上有灰色的痕迹，以为是什么脏东西不小心抹在上面。所以我清了清嗓子说“EM，你额头上似乎有东西”。 她大笑起来，说，这就是我在说的。 然后一位同事解释给我，今天是圣灰节！

圣灰节是基督徒祈祷和平的宗教节日。信徒们会把仟悔灰摸在他们的额头上。该节日也是斋戒和忏悔的日子。

是不是长了知识呀？至少明年当我看到人们额头抹灰或开玩笑说他们早上洗澡了，我不会奇怪而能完全领会他们的意思了。