Saint Mary's Ashes for use on Ash Wednesday.
Many Churches buy ashes for use on Ash Wednesday, but in recent years there have been problems with some of these. Therefore Fr Michael asks Parishioners to return their Palm Crosses given out last Palm Sunday. These are burned to make the ashes we shall use on Ash Wednesday.
Thank you to all our wonderful Parishioners who have returned their Palm crosses to make the ashes...This is what happens to them.
Palm Crosses are returned to Church by Parishioners.
The Palm Crosses from last year are collected and placed into a metal container.
Next they are burned.
They take just a few moments to burn.
All that's left is hot ashes.
These continue to smoulder for a while
They're then left for about an hour to cool.
They're then collected.
Placed into a grinder.
These are now collected and placed into a sealed container for use on Ash Wednesday.
We can put a lot of ashes into the grinder. We burned about 30 or so crosses.
The lid's placed on the grinder, and the ashes ground until a medium level of smootness is achieved
Et voila, Ashes for use on Ash Wednesday.