After God answers Job’s complaint from the great whirlwind, Job states, “Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6) The people of Nineveh, hearing the preaching of Jonah concerning the judgment which was to come upon them repented in sackcloth and ashes, “And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The practice of the imposition of ashes arises out of the biblical association between ashes and repentance. The priest makes the sign of the cross in ash on the forehead and recites the words, “remember, O man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.” This tradition goes back to at least the tenth century, being mentioned by the Anglo-Saxon Homilist Aelfric as the practice of all the faithful. On the first day of Lent, commonly called Ash Wednesday, it is traditional for Christians to receive the imposition of ashes. A Consideration of the Imposition of Ashes
