What is Ash Wednesday and how does it work?

Ash Wednesday is the Christian symbolic celebration on the first day of Lent of the ashes used to mark the foreheads of believers as sign of repentance, and occur inside a window period one day after Fat Tuesday or Tuesday of Grace, commonly referred in the French speaking world as the famous Mardi Gras, and 46 days before Easter. The ashes are gathered from the Palm fronds known as Palm Crosses burned the previous year on Palm Sunday, and mixed during a liturgical ceremony with the same sacred oil used to anoint the baptized. The paste is later used by the priest during the Ash Wednesday service marking first a Sign of the Cross on himself and then on the congregants.

Since Ash Wednesday is a fast festivity and also falls on a different day every year, it is considered a movable fast; therefore it can occur from February 14 2019 to 10 of March, depending on the year. The next 9 years, Ash Wednesday will occur on different dates as follow: 2011 ... March 9 2012 ... February 22 2013 ... February 13 2014 ... March 5 2015 ... February 18 2016 ... February 10 2017 ... March 1 2018 ... February 14 2019 ... February 14 2019 As for the insulting part if asked about it, I haven´t seen anything like it in my country, a 100% Catholic nation. On the contrary, the people seemed content and happy to participate on this ceremony and to "show" that they indeed attended the liturgy.

The burning of Palm fronds to make ashes for Ash Wednesday.

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This is a Catholic event which announces the start of the Lent season (40 days without Sundays / before easter). The ash used to mark the forehead is made from the palms which was gathered during the previous Palm Sunday. These palms are burned then the ashes are collected and are mixed with a sacred oil.

Ash cross in the forehead symbolizes repentance, expressing sorrow for the mistakes a person did. It has connection with a verse in the bible that says a human came from ashes/dust and must return to dust. "Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:19) The priest also says the same while putting this cross on a person's forehead.

Although this is a tradition for believers, it is not a sacrament like baptism, marriage, etc. For your question, no it's not rude to ask them what it is about. :) It's not something that would offend a catholic especially if he/she's wearing the cross anyway.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.