In the Old Testament, ashes were often paired with the wearing of sackcloth — an uncomfortable, scratchy fabric. Together, “sackcloth and ashes” represented several human conditions ...

Various instruments began to be used to carry out penances that required physical pain, including sackcloth and whips ... who embodied in art the shame of the condemned who wore the hat.

When pronouncing these judgments, Jesus makes reference to sackcloth and ashes as a form of penitence. As early as the ninth ...