what are the ashes for ash wednesday made of
Ash Wednesday The Catholic Church and the Methodist Church say that the ashes should be those of palm branches blessed at the previous year's Palm Sunday service,[34][42] while a Church of England publication says they "may be made" from the burnt palm crosses of the previous year.[31][32] These sources do not speak of adding anything to the ashes other than, for the Catholic liturgy, a sprinkling with holy water when blessing them. An Anglican website speaks of mixing the ashes with a small amount of holy water or olive oil as a fixative.[43]
List of Ashes series Australia have won more Ashes Tests than England, winning 134 of the 330 matches, compared to England's 106 victories. Australia also holds the edge in Ashes series won, having won on 33 occasions compared to England's 32. There have been five drawn series, and on four of these occasions, Australia have retained the Ashes due to being holders going into the series. England have retained the Ashes after a drawn series once. On only three occasions has a team won all the Tests in an Ashes series; Australia won all five matches in 1920–21, then repeated the feat in 2006–07 and in 2013–14.[6] England's largest winning margin in an Ashes series was in 1978–79, when they won 5–1. Both England and Australia have held the Ashes for eight series in a row, England doing so between 1882–83 and 1890, while Australia achieved the feat from 1989 to 2002–03.[6] Since 1882, a small number of Test series have been played between the two sides that have not been allocated as Ashes series; those played in 1976–77, 1979–80, 1980 and 1987–88,[6] these series are not listed in the table below.