The Calendar
What the atlas records for this date, across the traditions it covers.
Observed On This Date
Fast / abstinence
The Wednesday forty-six days before Easter, opening the Western Lent
Western Lent. The Orthodox fast begins on Clean Monday, which is reckoned differently.
Fast / abstinence
The forty days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday, Sundays not counted
Day 1 of 46
Forty days, counted excluding Sundays, which is why the span is forty-six.
This Week In Space and Astronomy History
Dates for the Hebrew and Islamic calendars are the tabular reckoning, which is what a printed calendar prints. Communities that begin a month on a sighted crescent may differ by a day, and differ from one another by place.