Religion

Filipinos gather at churches in the Philippines to celebrate Ash Wednesday

Quezon City, Feb 17 (EFE/EPA).- Filipinos gathered at churches throughout the Philippines on Wednesday to have their foreheads marked with a sooty cross sign to celebrate Ash Wednesday, the first day of the 40-day Catholic Lent season.Ash Wednesday is typically observed in the majority-Catholic country as a day of fasting, where devotees skip at least one full meal per day and abstain from eating meat and indulging in other worldly desires, such as drinking alcohol.Lent, which lasts about six weeks in the Christian calendar, is meant to prepare believers for Easter through prayer, repentance and reflection and commemorates the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert, according to the Gospels.The Philippines is the largest majority-Christian country in Asia, with 85.8 million practicing Christians, nearly 86 percent of whom are Roman Catholic. (Camera: ROLEX DELA PENA).SHOT LIST: CATHOLICS OBSERVE ASH WEDNESDAY AND PRAY DURING A HOLY MASS AT AN OUTDOOR BASKETBALL COURT IN QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES.