Ash Wednesday,

Thumb Appreciation Day

Have Connections

By Holly Gatling, Executive Director
South Carolina Citizens for Life

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the forty-day penitential season of Lent.

Literally millions of Christians around the world will go to their places of worship to receive on their foreheads the traditional cross of ashes. Members of the clergy will also visit nursing homes and those who are homebound to distribute blessed ashes and offer Ash Wednesday prayers.

Today is also Thumb Appreciation Day, which this year happens to coincide with Ash Wednesday. Thumb Appreciation Day is celebrated annually on February 18, while the date of Ash Wednesday depends on the date of Easter and therefore changes each year. 

While I know quite a lot about the early Christian tradition of Ash Wednesday, I have found very little about the origins of Thumb Appreciation Day beyond the fact that it appears to be a lighthearted observance of internet-calendar origin rather than a formally established holiday.

If you follow SCCL on social media, you will see that today we are observing Thumb Appreciation Day by highlighting the formation of the human thumb during the first eight weeks of pregnancy. We welcome every opportunity to point to the remarkable way in which we grow and develop as human beings from a single cell to a decades-old man or woman.

So how does Thumb Appreciation Day connect with Ash Wednesday? The priest, pastor, deacon, or lay minister in denominations that observe Ash Wednesday usually uses his or her thumb to trace the cross of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful.

This Ash Wednesday and Lent, as we pray for repentance and forgiveness – especially for forgiveness as a nation for the sin of abortion – let us also joyfully contemplate how we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” Psalm 139:14 and “knit together in our mother’s womb” Psalm 139:13.

Whether through the solemn ash cross or a simple "thumbs up" in appreciation, may this Ash Wednesday bring both penitence and profound gratitude for how we are made. If you're observing Lent, blessings on your journey of prayer and reflection.

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