The celebration is over.

Last night, at the last tick of the clock for February 17, 2026, Fat Tuesday ended. Mardi Gras ceased. In cities, towns and hamlets around the world, the festivities crashed to a halt. February 18 2026, Ash Wednesday, had arrived. Lent had begun.

Lent is a time of remembrance for the 40-day period that Jesus of Nazareth spent fasting in the desert after his baptism in the Jordan River. During this period, participants engage in fasting, abstinence and personal resolutions.

“Fasting” means that a person eats one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not equal the larger meal. Eat light. He fasted. We fast.

“Abstinence” means to abstain from eating meat. But not all meats. Hamburgers, steaks and chicken strips are definitely off the menu. Fish and shrimp are still on the plate.

During Lent, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence. The other Fridays are days of abstinence, not fasting.

On Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, ashes are drawn in the sign of the cross on the foreheads of recipients around the world. We can blame Adam and Eve for this one. After their transgression in the Garden of Eden, the book of Genesis recounts the first couple’s reprimand, which ends with these words: “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The sign traced in the dust from the burned palm fronds of last year’s Palm Sunday reminds us, like our original parents, to turn from our missteps and resolve to do better and treat each other better.

Personal resolutions are another practiced tradition of the Lenten season. These vary widely from person to person, but one of the most tried and true is the resolve not eat sweets — candies, chocolates, cookies . . . for forty days!!!!

Now, the forty days of Lent have begun. 40 days to Easter. Only, it’s not exactly forty days. It’s 46 days: 40 days of weekdays and Saturdays, and 6 Sundays. The 6 Sundays are festival days. The weekdays and Saturdays comprise the 40 days for fasting, abstinence and resolutions in remembrance of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert.

Easter is a fixed date: the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The spring equinox this year is March 20, 2026 at 9:46 AM (Northern Hemisphere, Central Time). Accounting for the next full moon, Easter is April 5, 2026. So, backtracking 46 days from Easter, not counting Easter, Ash Wednesday, this year, is February 18, 2026.

No one ever said these things would be easy, which may be why we have Ash Wednesday.

Perhaps this can be a time to slow the body and strengthen the will.

Spring is not that far off, and Easter will soon follow.

Enjoy the quiet and keep the resolve.

It is only a few ashes.

For now.

I think.

Thanks for reading.

Grandpa Jim