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See photos: Utah Christians mark Ash Wednesday as Easter countdown begins

Faith’s holiest season now underway.

(Rachel Rydalch | The Salt Lake Tribune) Father José A. Barrera places ashes on a young boys face for Ash Wednesday at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

(Rachel Rydalch | The Salt Lake Tribune) Father José A. Barrera places ashes on a young boys face for Ash Wednesday at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

By https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/sltrib/d23c9c3d-6a35-4583-8f7c-a59ca4e57a79.png The Salt Lake Tribune
 | March 3, 2022, 6:00 a.m.

For believers — like these at West Jordan’s St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church — Ash Wednesday marks, quite literally, the start of Christianity’s holiest season.

It falls on the seventh Wednesday before Easter and kicks off Lent.

Followers — including Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians and Lutherans — put ashes on their foreheads as an outward symbol of their penitence.

This year, Western Christians will celebrate Easter on April 17. Eastern Orthodox devotees will do so a week later, on April 24.

(Rachel Rydalch | The Salt Lake Tribune) Father José A. Barrera places ashes on a young girl for Ash Wednesday at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

(Rachel Rydalch | The Salt Lake Tribune) Father José A. Barrera places ashes on a woman’s face for Ash Wednesday at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

(Rachel Rydalch | The Salt Lake Tribune) A woman prays at Catholic Mass on Ash Wednesday at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

(Rachel Rydalch | The Salt Lake Tribune) Deacon Sunday Espinoza, right, places ashes on Father José A. Barrera, left, for Ash Wednesday at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in West Jordan on Wednesday, March 2, 2022.

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