When Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday coincide...

This past week Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday occurred on the same day. I'd never thought about how often these two holidays, both with religious underpinnings, fall on the same calendar date. Turns out, not very often. While the two days infrequently fall together, the last time was in 2018, just a mere six years ago. Although I have written stories about both these holidays, reviewing my work notes and I didn't write about either day in 2018. Weird.

Some more research revealed just how rarely the two days fall on the same day. In the last century the two days coincided in 1923, 1934 and 1945. Though the most recent time was in 2018, that was the first time in this century. The next in this century will be in 2029 and that will be it. Better celebrate the two days together in 2029 because there's a good likelihood some of us won't see the next time they overlap.

Believe me, I did not figure out how the two days overlap as I have trouble balancing a checkbook. Part of why this rarity in the overlapping has to do with how the two holidays are determined. Valentine's Day is straightforward, it's always on February 14. But Ash Wednesday varies though it is always 46 days before Easter Sunday. How the date for Easter Sunday is determined is mathematically a whole other ball game. From a post online: "The simple standard definition of Easter is that it is the first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox (when the sun is such that the length of day and night is equal, usually around March 21). If the full Moon falls on a Sunday then Easter is the next Sunday." I recall trying to learn this "simple formula" in grade school...I didn't figure it out then and can't now. Like most readers, I have to look at the new calendar each year where someone else already figured out Easter and Valentine's Day. Good enough.

Valentine's Day celebration at Chinook Senior Center

I don't know how Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday were celebrated over all of Blaine County this year, but I did participate in a couple of events right here close to home in Chinook. Here's some of what took place.

The Chinook Senior Center had a number of activities that celebrated Valentine's Day. For the past few weeks visitors to the Center were given the opportunity to vote who they would like to elect as King and Queen for the Valentine's Day celebration. John and Dona Clay, who moved to Chinook a couple of years ago, were selected. They are both regulars at the Center participating in many of the activities. Dona religiously volunteers to help clear the lunch dishes. She told me in confidence one day, "This is one way I get my steps in each day for my exercise program."

Some other guests joined Jack Brandon for some watercolor painting. Many of those folks have been learning painting with Jack who travels each week from Havre. This week the painters worked painting roses and hearts for some Valentine cards.

In other parts of the Center individuals, and some folks working in groups, were trying to figure out some of the brain teasers put together by Center Director Ginger Hansen. Funny how when challenged to choose "the ten most romantic movies" and "ten most romantic songs" many of us draw a blank. Of course we all got the "sweetest treats" part of the program, also prepared by Ginger. With all the baked goods and candies available if guests left the Center on Valentine's Day without being on a sugar high it was their own fault.

Ash Wednesday with the Milk River Churches (MRC)

I'm sure other churches in the area had Ash Wednesday services. As part of the Chinook Presbyterian Church my wife and I joined the American Lutheran and Chinook Methodist congregations for an evening Ash Wednesday service at the Methodist Church. The worship was led by Theresa Danley, the Certified Lay Pastor (CLP) who serves the Milk River Churches (the Havre Presbyterian Church is part of the MRC but held its own service because of winter travel issues).

For many Christian churches Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a time of spiritual reflection and self-examination for members of a faith community. The imposition of ashes, when the leader makes the sign of the cross with ashes on the forehead of congregants, became a sign of Christians in the middle ages as an outward sign of their desire to "repent, contemplate their shortcomings and begin a process of spiritual healing." Teenagers in the JUMP youth program, which meets next door in Wallner Hall, came to worship and receive the ashes as well.

The symbolic use of ashes in part stems from the Old Testament practice of covering oneself in ashes and 'sack cloth' as an outward sign of repentance. In early Ash Wednesday services clerics put the ashes directly on men's heads and made the sign of the cross on women's foreheads. Over time the sign of the cross on one's forehead was commonly accepted. Ash Wednesday services are typically somber as faith communities begin a period of preparation for Easter and the celebration of Christ's resurrection.