ASH WEDNESDAY ( a.k.a.  Pelenø Diena )
First day after Shrove Tuesday ( a.k.a. Uþgavënës )

Ashes from last year’s burned Palms are sprinkled on peoples’ heads in church. This is a reminder that being made of dust, we will become dust very soon. Those returning from church bring aches home and sprinkle heads of those who remained at home. 
This is a day of "black fast". Women boil water, wash all utensils, scrub tables and benches so that there would be no remains of dairy or meat.
Together with Christian traditions, Lithuanians continued ancient agrarian beliefs. The tradition of dressing up as an old man or Uncle Ash ( a.k.a. Pelenium ), still remains. He would dress in rags, add a long nose and a humpback, carried a bag of ashes, a long cane and walked through villages. He sprinkled ashes on passers by and entered each home where he received food or money. If some households did not receive Uncle Ash, he spread ashes on windows and doors of that house.
Widely practiced traditions of bringing a stone or a wood stump into the house on this day, assured good summer crops of flax. In Samogitija this act was called "carting herring". Some twelve masked persons rolled these upon arrival at the house. In other areas, women tied a herring head to a string and dragged it across neighbor’s doorstep calling "here, here, here".
On this day men searched for an old maid, tied a wooden stump to her waist and drove her from one house to another, hitting her with ashen bags. This went on until another old maid was found, then the first one was released, while the second inherited the first one’s fate.
Young men drove around in sleighs or dragged a bundle of dry branches. When they found old men, they took the bundle of dry branches into their houses, insisting that they chew on them. To those over fifty years old, a piece of wood was left to chew on. If one of the old men had agreed to wed after Easter, he would place a liter of whiskey so that the piece of chewing wood would be removed.
After overeating of fat foods on Shrove Tuesday, many became ill. Numerous homesteads were visited by masqueraders dressed as Hungarian - Doctors, wearing black or blue trousers, tall hats and painted faces. They carried canes with an axe butt, also carried a bag filled with clattering medicine boxes. They knew how to palm read the future. They also took payment for supposed cures and were treated to strong drinks.
There are many beliefs connected to this day and to ashes. One should sleep in on this day, rise with the sun so that all household work would be good. Women took naps at noon, to prevent their waists from hurting. Blessed ashes were sprinkled  into wells to make water clean and tasty, also sprinkled on top of the head to prevent headaches. On this day, before sunrise ashes were sprinkled over gardens to keep out worms from them. Ashes were placed in glasses to stop those from drinking who abused alcohol.
In the morning the master of the house took a pail of water and poured it into four directions from the well, so that there would be no water shortage in the summer. 
Last century, girls collected hemp and flax fibers, from which they wove ropes to be used for Easter swings. People said that potatoes will rot, if it rains, is foggy and damp on Ash Wednesday.