This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Utah worshippers marked the beginning of Lent with services at area churches, including Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in West Valley City.

The day falls on the seventh Wednesday before Easter, the holiest season of the year for Christians.

Many believers — including Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans and, increasingly, other Protestants — put ashes on their foreheads as an outward symbol of their "ashes-to-ashes" return to dust.