Groovy! Remember to carry your boomstick! It’s also mandatory in Texas thanks to the genius of my state’s legislature/governor thinking this will lower crime.
In all seriousness though, it’s the kick of to lent which then puts Easter 40 days away. For secular Americans like myself, it means McDonald’s now offers the double fish sandwich and shamrock shakes can’t be far away.
As a kid, I always hated have the stupid ashes rubbed on my forehead in parochial school. It receive grief from my mother whenever I’d wash it off. To me it was silly and those brandishing it (even today) were just immodest Catholics. For non-Catholics, the ashes are the burnt palm leaves from the previous Palm Sunday that weren’t given out. Maybe some are returned by various people. My parents used to keep a set behind an angel decoration on the wall. It looked more like a hunting trophy, you know, similar to a moose head or deer.