The majority of the country’s practicing Catholics initiated Lent by attending church on Ash Wednesday (Miercoles de Cenizas)
when a priest – or in some cases a nun – stamped the sign of the cross on their foreheads while reciting a familiar spiritual admonition such as “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “You are dust and to dust you shall return.”
Lent is traditionally a period of spiritual reflection that is enhanced through personal abnegation, pious works and acts of charity.