5 interesting facts about Ash Wednesday, Lent

For many Christians worldwide, the weeks leading up to Easter are a time of fasting, solemn contemplation and abstaining from certain luxuries and foods.

Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season on the liturgical calendar representing a 40-day period, plus Sundays that are not counted.

There are many traditions and customs associated with Lent. Some, like Ash Wednesday's ash cross on the forehead and Catholics abstaining from eating meat on Fridays are fairly well known.

Here are five interesting facts about Lent.