Many of those raised in accordance with Christian traditions know that Ash Wednesday marks the start of the season of repentance that’s known as Lent. It’s likely that far fewer, particularly non-Catholics, understand the origin or significance of the day.

On Ash Wednesday, the priest marks a cross on foreheads of worshippers as he reminds them that "Remember, man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Genesis 3:19). The ashes come from palm fronds burnt after serving in the Palm Sunday rituals.

Lent, which always begins forty-six days before Easter, helps believers to better appreciate the death and resurrection of Christ through introspection, repentance, prayer, fasting or adhering to dietary restrictions and self-denial in the form of giving up a beloved food or behavior.

In countries with a carnival tradition, Ash Wednesday is used as the date at which the revelry and excesses associated with carnival are put to bed. Perhaps the most vibrant of celebrations in this regard are practiced in Spain. The Entierro de la Sardina, or “Burial of the Sardine” celebrates the end of carnival and its related festivities with carnival parades that parody a funeral procession, followed by the reading of the sardine’s last will and testament and ends with the burning of an allegorical figure, usually a representation of a sardine.

Places in Spain where you too can give a sardine and with that carnival itself a proper send-off include Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz, Sitges, cities and towns of the Murcia region and the Canary Islands cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, to name just a few.