The day after Faschingsdienstag, or Shrove Tuesday is Ash Wednesday. When I first arrived in Austria and this day came up I thought to myself… woah… that’s weird… in Australia we also have an Ash Wednesday. Our Ash Wednesday, however, memorialises one of Australia’s most destructive bush fires which occurred on 16 February 1983. Or at least that’s what I thought.
Turns out that I’m actually just an idiot.
Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent. It’s known the world-over in religious circles.
Yes, it also marks the anniversary of the Ash Wednesday bushfires, but whoever gave the bushfires that name probably didn’t make it up using the day of the week and something to do with fire (ash), they just took the actual day that it was.
So that’s what I learnt this year! How about you?
an aussie in austria 