For millions of people around the world, today will be celebrated as Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent.
Many of them will line up in church and get a smudge on the forehead in the shape of a cross.
Sometimes, it looks more like a blur. It's hard for a minister to dip his thumb in ashes and rub it in a perfectly formed cross.
The ash marks sometimes resemble other things, which prompted Catholic teacher Bill Donaghy to come up with an amusing chart to name that smudge. He called a faint mark "Load Toner," and a lightning bolt the "Harry Potter," among other humorous interpretations.
While some may wonder if it's a bit sacrilegious, the theology teacher who created it just chuckles.
"I haven't gotten any negative feedback," said Donaghy, who works for Theology of the Body Institute in Downingtown, Pa. "People really get a kick out of it."
He said he thought of it after Ash Wednesday, sitting in church during Lent in 2015.
"At the end of Mass, I'm praying, and I thought of it," Donaghy told AL.com. "I grabbed my Ipad and sketched out a few. It was a five-minute sketch after Mass."
It was shared on Facebook by prominent Catholics including the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who writes for America magazine.
"It went crazy viral," Donaghy said.
Donaghy said the art of the ash on the forehead is a difficult one. "It's not the best medium for an artist to work in," he said.
As for inexplicable shapes, "I've had a few," he said.
"I've heard that in Europe, they sprinkle ashes on your head," Donaghy said. "We should be grateful."
Methodists have come up with their own version that includes the holy grail - the Super Methodist, which would be the famous denominational flame and cross logo.
Like in medieval times when people wore sackcloth and ashes, the ash mark is a call to repentance and preparation in the season leading up to Easter, which will be on April 16 for Christians around the world.
"The priest or deacon says, 'Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return,'" said Bishop Robert J. Baker, head of the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, although there are now alternative versions of that phrase. "It focuses on the fact life is not permanent. We have to prepare for death. The ashes represent a deeper conversion to the Lord."
