Six-year-old Mary Epps of Mill Creek gets a cross marked in ashes on her forehead by the Rev. James Dalton during an Ash Wednesday service at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Lynnwood. George Kunthara, 7, waits behind Mary.
The ash used to mark the cross was made out of burnt palms that were handed out to parishioners on Palm Sunday last year. For Catholics, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the 40-day period leading to Easter, and the ritual of putting ashes on the forehead is a sign of penitence.
Meanwhile, at the Vatican, Pope John Paul II chose the occasion to call on the world to protect its children.
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