The Meaning of Ash Wednesday

Ashes
On this day, the faithful is marked on the forehead with the sign of the cross using ashes while the words "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel" or "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you shall return"(Gen 3:19) are said. The ashes are blessed by the priest before the imposition and  sprinkled with holy water. The ashes come from the burning of palm branches used during Palm (Passion) Sunday of the previous year.

The use of ashes is very biblical and signifies repentance.
* Job repented using ashes (Job 42:6)
* Daniel prayed with fasting and ashes (Dn 9:3)
* When Jonah preached God's coming judgment against Nineveh, the pagan king of Nineveh and his subjects repented with a fast, the king put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. (Jonah 3:5-10).
* When King Ahasuerus ordered all Jews to be killed, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. So did the Jews throughout the land (Esther 4:1-3)
* Jeremiah and Ezekiel mentioned mourning with ashes (Jer 6:26, Ez 27:30)
* Jesus mentioned ashes as a sign of repentance in the case of Tyre and Sidon (Mt 11:21)

Fasting and Abstinence
On this day and Good Friday (the only official two days in the liturgical calendar), Christians are asked to fast from food and abstain from flesh meat.
Recently the rule has been greatly relaxed than in the olden days.
Fasting and abstinence fortify the Christian person in the struggle against evil and for the service of the Gospel.
In fasting and penance, the believer is asked to renounce goods and legitimate material satisfaction (not necessarily food), in order to acquire better interior freedom. This disposes us to listen attentively to the Word of God and to give generous assistance to our brothers in need.
Fasting and abstinence must therefore be accompanied by gestures of solidarity towards those
suffering and going through difficult times. In this way penance becomes a sharing with the marginalized and needy.