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Utah Christians celebrate the day with white snow and black ashes

Ash Wednesday starts the clock on Lent and Easter.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Alice Osheku, from Nigeria visiting family, receives ashes for Ash Wednesday at St. Ann Catholic Church in South Salt Lake on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026.

For believers — like these souls who braved the morning snow to attend Mass at St. Ann Catholic Church in South Salt Lake — Ash Wednesday marks the start of Christianity’s holiest season.

It falls on the seventh Wednesday before Easter and kicks off 40 days of Lent.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Parishioners pray during the service for Ash Wednesday at St. Ann Catholic Church in South Salt Lake on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026.

Western Christians — including Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians and Lutherans — have ashes put on their foreheads as an outward sign of their inner repentance.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Father Carlos Guzman reads from the Bible during the service for Ash Wednesday at St. Ann Catholic Church in South Salt Lake on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026.

The symbol harks to this Bible verse in Genesis: “For dust you are, and to dust you will return.”

This year, Western Christians will celebrate Easter Sunday on April 5. Eastern Orthodox devotees will do so on April 12.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A parishioner receives ashes from Father Carlos Guzman for Ash Wednesday at St. Ann Catholic Church in South Salt Lake on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026.

(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Parishioners attend the service for Ash Wednesday at St. Ann Catholic Church in South Salt Lake on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026.

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