Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, one of the most important annual holidays for Christians.

Here are eight facts you should know about the period:

• Ash Wednesday is a time for fasting and repentance, garnering its name from the fact that participants get repentance ashes in the form of a cross on their foreheads.
• Christians then hear the words “Repent, and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” as a way of soul cleansing.
• The ashes are often prepared by burning palm leaves gotten from the previous year’s Palm Sunday.
• Lent is a six-week period that begins with Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday.
• It lasts a total of 40 days to be exact as that is how long Jesus spent fasting in the desert.
• The period often involves participants abstaining from a luxury in their lives for the duration of the period, which can include anything from certain foods to social media.
• Ash Wednesday and Lent are designed to honor Holy Week, which is the time in which Jesus died, was buried and later resurrected.
• The traditions and events that transpired according to the New Testament are also taken into account during the period, beginning on Palm Sunday, followed by the crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday and ending with Easter Sunday and the Resurrection of Jesus.