document_title: World population

question_text: how much of world's population lives in india

question_tokens: how much of world 's population lives in india

text: World population

text: Population by region[edit]

text: Six of the Earth's seven continents are permanently inhabited on a large scale. Asia is the most populous continent, with its 4.3 billion inhabitants accounting for 60% of the world population. The world's two most populated countries, China and India, together constitute about 37% of the world's population. Africa is the second most populated continent, with around 1 billion people, or 15% of the world's population. Europe's 733 million people make up 12% of the world's population as of 2012, while the Latin American and Caribbean regions are home to around 600 million (9%). Northern America, primarily consisting of the United States and Canada, has a population of around 352 million (5%), and Oceania, the least-populated region, has about 35 million inhabitants (0.5%).[12] Though it is not permanently inhabited by any fixed population, Antarctica has a small, fluctuating international population based mainly in polar science stations. This population tends to rise in the summer months and decrease significantly in winter, as visiting researchers return to their home countries.[13]

text: Population by continent[edit]

text:
Population by continent (2016 estimates)

Continent
Density
(inhabitants/km2)
Population
(millions)
Most populous country
Most populous city (metropolitan area)

Asia
96.4
4,436
1,382,300,000[note 1] -  China
35,676,000/13,634,685 -  Greater Tokyo Area/Tokyo Metropolis

Africa
36.7
1,216
0186,987,000 -  Nigeria
21,000,000 -  Lagos

Europe
72.9
738
0145,939,000 -  Russia;
approx. 112 million in Europe)
19,468,664 -  Moscow

North America[note 2]
22.9
579
0324,991,600 -  United States
23,723,696/08,537,673 -  New York Metropolitan Area/New York City

South America
22.8
422
0209,567,000 -  Brazil
27,640,577/11,316,149 -  Metro Area/São Paulo City

Oceania
4.5
39.9
0024,458,800 -  Australia
05,005,400 -  Sydney

Antarctica
0.0003
(varies)
0.004 in summer
(non-permanent, varies)[13]
N/A[note 3]
0000001,200 (non-permanent, varies) - McMurdo Station

text: History[edit]

text: Estimates of world population by their nature are an aspect of modernity, possible only since the Age of Discovery. Early estimates for the population of the world[14] date to the 17th century: William Petty in 1682 estimated world population at 320 million (modern estimates ranging close to twice this number); by the late 18th century, estimates ranged close to one billion (consistent with modern estimates).[15] More refined estimates, broken down by continents, were published in the first half of the 19th century, at 600 to 1000 million in the early 1800s and at 800 to 1000 million in the 1840s.[16]

text: Antiquity and Middle Ages[edit]

text: Estimates of the population of the world at the time agriculture emerged in around 10,000 BC have ranged between 1 million and 15 million.[17][18] Even earlier, genetic evidence suggests humans may have gone through a population bottleneck of between 1,000 and 10,000 people about 70,000 BC, according to the Toba catastrophe theory. By contrast, it is estimated that around 50–60 million people lived in the combined eastern and western Roman Empire in the 4th century AD.[19]

text: The Plague of Justinian, which first emerged during the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian, caused Europe's population to drop by around 50% between the 6th and 8th centuries AD.[20] The population of Europe was more than 70 million in 1340.[21] The Black Death pandemic of the 14th century may have reduced the world's population from an estimated 450 million in 1340 to between 350 and 375 million in 1400;[22] it took 200 years for population figures to recover.[23] The population of China decreased from 123 million in 1200 to 65 million in 1393,[24] presumably due to a combination of Mongol invasions, famine, and plague.[25]

text: Starting in AD 2, the Han Dynasty of ancient China kept consistent family registers in order to properly assess the poll taxes and labor service duties of each household.[26] In that year, the population of Western Han was recorded as 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households, decreasing to 47,566,772 individuals in 9,348,227 households by AD 146, towards the End of the Han Dynasty.[26] At the founding of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, China's population was reported to be close to 60 million; toward the end of the dynasty in 1644, it may have approached 150 million.[27] England's population reached an estimated 5.6 million in 1650, up from an estimated 2.6 million in 1500.[28] New crops that were brought to Asia and Europe from the Americas by Portuguese and Spanish colonists in the 16th century are believed to have contributed to population growth.[29][30][31] Since their introduction to Africa by Portuguese traders in the 16th century,[32] maize and cassava have similarly replaced traditional African crops as the most important staple food crops grown on the continent.[33]

text: The pre-Columbian North American population probably numbered somewhere between 2 million and 18 million.[34] Encounters between European explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced local epidemics of extraordinary virulence.[35] According to the most extreme scholarly claims, as many as 90% of the Native American population of the New World died due to Old World diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza.[36] Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of immunity to these diseases, while the indigenous peoples had no such immunity.[37]

text: Modern era[edit]

text: During the European Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions, the life expectancy of children increased dramatically.[40] The percentage of the children born in London who died before the age of five decreased from 74.5% in 1730–1749 to 31.8% in 1810–1829.[41][42] Between 1700 and 1900, Europe’s population increased from about 100 million to over 400 million.[43] Altogether, the areas populated by people of European descent comprised 36% of the world's population in 1900.[44]

text: Population growth in the West became more rapid after the introduction of vaccination and other improvements in medicine and sanitation.[45] Improved material conditions led to the population of Britain increasing from 10 million to 40 million in the 19th century.[46] The population of the United Kingdom reached 60 million in 2006.[47] The United States saw its population grow from around 5.3 million in 1800 to 106 million in 1920, exceeding 307 million in 2010.[48]

text: The first half of the 20th century in Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union was marked by a succession of major wars, famines and other disasters which caused large-scale population losses (approximately 60 million excess deaths).[49][50] After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's population declined significantly – from 150 million in 1991 to 143 million in 2012[51] – but by 2013 this decline appeared to have halted.[52]

text: Many countries in the developing world have experienced extremely rapid population growth since the early 20th century, due to economic development and improvements in public health. China's population rose from approximately 430 million in 1850 to 580 million in 1953,[53] and now stands at over 1.3 billion. The population of the Indian subcontinent, which was about 125 million in 1750, increased to 389 million in 1941;[54] today, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh are collectively home to about 1.63 billion people.[55] Java had about 5 million inhabitants in 1815; its present-day successor, Indonesia, now has a population of over 140 million.[56] In just one hundred years, the population of Brazil decupled (x10), from about 17 million in 1900, or about 1% of the world population in that year, to about 176 million in 2000, or almost 3% of the global population in the very early 21st century. Mexico's population grew from 13.6 million in 1900 to about 112 million in 2010.[57][58] Between the 1920s and 2000s, Kenya's population grew from 2.9 million to 37 million.[59]

text: Milestones by the billions[edit]

text:
World population milestones in billions

Population
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Year
1804
1927
1960
1974
1987
1999
2011
2024
2042

Years elapsed
––
123
33
14
13
12
12
13
18

text: It is estimated that the world population reached one billion for the first time in 1804. It was another 123 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to reach three billion in 1960.[60] Thereafter, the global population reached four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, six billion in 1999 and, according to the United States Census Bureau, seven billion in March 2012.[61] The United Nations, however, estimated that the world population reached seven billion in October 2011.[62][63][64]

text: According to current projections, the global population will reach eight billion by 2024, and will likely reach around nine billion by 2042. Alternative scenarios for 2050 range from a low of 7.4 billion to a high of more than 10.6 billion.[65] Projected figures vary depending on underlying statistical assumptions and the variables used in projection calculations, especially the fertility variable. Long-range predictions to 2150 range from a population decline to 3.2 billion in the "low scenario", to "high scenarios" of 24.8 billion.[65] One extreme scenario predicted a massive increase to 256 billion by 2150, assuming the global fertility rate remained at its 1995 level of 3.04 children per woman; however, by 2010 the global fertility rate had declined to 2.52.[66][67]

text: There is no estimation for the exact day or month the world's population surpassed one or two billion. The points at which it reached three and four billion were not officially noted, but the International Database of the United States Census Bureau placed them in July 1959 and April 1974 respectively. The United Nations did determine, and commemorate, the "Day of 5 Billion" on July 11, 1987, and the "Day of 6 Billion" on October 12, 1999. The Population Division of the United Nations declared the "Day of 7 Billion" to be October 31, 2011.[68]

text: Global demographics[edit]

text:
80+
  77.5+
  75+
  72.5+
  70+
  67.5+
  65+

  60+
  55+
  50+
  45+
  40+
  less than 40

text: As of 2012, the global sex ratio is approximately 1.01 males to 1 female. The greater number of men is possibly due to the significant sex imbalances evident in the Indian and Chinese populations.[70][71] Approximately 26.3% of the global population is aged under 15, while 65.9% is aged 15–64 and 7.9% is aged 65 or over.[70] The median age of the world's population was estimated to be 29.7 years in 2014,[72] and is expected to rise to 37.9 years by 2050.[73]

text: According to the World Health Organization, the global average life expectancy is 70.5 years as of 2012, with women living an average of 73 years and men approximately 68 years.[69] In 2010, the global fertility rate was estimated at 2.52 children per woman.[67] In June 2012, British researchers calculated the total weight of Earth's human population as approximately 287 million tonnes, with the average person weighing around 62 kilograms (137 lb).[74]

text: The CIA estimated nominal 2013 gross world product at US$74.31 trillion, giving an annual global per capita figure of around US$10,500.[75] Around 1.29 billion people (18.4% of the world population) live in extreme poverty, subsisting on less than US$1.25 per day;[76] approximately 870 million people (12.25%) are undernourished.[77] 83% of the world's over-15s are considered literate.[70] In June 2014, there were around 3.03 billion global Internet users, constituting 42.3% of the world population.[78]

text: The Han Chinese are the world's largest single ethnic group, constituting over 19% of the global population in 2011.[79] The world's most-spoken first languages are Mandarin Chinese (spoken by 12.44% of the world's population), Spanish (4.85%), English (4.83%), Arabic (3.25%) and Hindustani (2.68%).[70] The world's largest religion is Christianity, whose adherents account for 31% of the global population; Islam is the second-largest religion, accounting for 24.1%, and Hinduism the third, accounting for 13.78%.[70] In 2005, around 16% of the global population were reported to be non-religious.[80]

text: Largest populations by country[edit]

text:
10 most populous countries

Rank
Country / Territory
Population
Date
Approx. % of world
population
Source

1
 China[note 4]
1,390,040,000
March 29, 2018
18.3%
[81]

2
 India
1,329,760,000
March 29, 2018
17.5%
[82]

3
 United States
326,870,000
March 29, 2018
4.29%
[83]

4
 Indonesia
261,600,000
October 31, 2016
3.44%
[84]

5
 Pakistan
211,059,000
March 29, 2018
2.77%
[85]

6
 Brazil
208,846,000
March 29, 2018
2.74%
[86]

7
 Nigeria
188,500,000
October 31, 2016
2.48%
[87]

8
 Bangladesh
164,237,000
March 29, 2018
2.16%
[88]

9
 Russia[note 5]
146,773,226
June 1, 2017
1.93%
[89]

10
 Japan
126,670,000
September 1, 2017
1.66%
[90]

text: Approximately 4.3 billion people live in these ten countries, representing around 58% of the world's population as of March 2016. Approximately 3.7 billion people, or half of the world population, live in the six most populous countries.[91]

text: Most densely populated countries[edit]

text: The tables below list the world's most densely populated countries, both in absolute terms and in comparison to their total populations.

text:
10 most densely populated countries (with population above 5 million)

Rank
Country
Population
Area (km2)
Density
(Pop. per km2)

1
 Singapore
5,612,300
710
7,905

2
 Bangladesh
164,240,000
143,998
1,141

3
 Taiwan
23,562,318
36,190
651

4
 South Korea
51,446,201
99,538
517

5
 Lebanon
6,082,000
10,452
582

6
 Rwanda
11,809,295
26,338
448

7
 Netherlands
17,210,000
41,526
414

8
 Haiti
10,911,819
27,065
403

9
 India
1,329,760,000
3,287,240
405

10
 Israel
8,840,000
22,072
400

text:
Countries ranking highly in both total population (more than 20 million people) and population density (more than 250 people per square kilometer):

Rank
Country
Population
Area (km2)
Density
(Pop. per km2)
Notes

1
 India
1,329,760,000
3,287,240
405
Growing population

2
 Pakistan
211,060,000
803,940
263
Rapidly growing population

3
 Bangladesh
164,240,000
143,998
1,141
Rapidly growing population

4
 Japan
126,670,000
377,873
335
Declining population[92]

5
 Philippines
105,640,000
300,000
352
Growing population

6
 Vietnam
93,700,000
331,689
282
Growing population

7
 United Kingdom
65,648,100
243,610
269
Slowly growing population

8
 South Korea
51,446,201
99,538
517
Slowly growing population

9
 Taiwan
23,562,318
36,190
651
Steady population

10
 Sri Lanka
21,444,000
65,610
327
Growing population

text: Fluctuation[edit]

text: Population size fluctuates at differing rates in differing regions. Nonetheless, population growth is the long-standing trend on all inhabited continents, as well as in most individual states. During the 20th century, the global population saw its greatest increase in known history, rising from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to over 6 billion in 2000. A number of factors contributed to this increase, including the lessening of the mortality rate in many countries by improved sanitation and medical advances, and a massive increase in agricultural productivity attributed to the Green Revolution.[93][94][95]

text: In 2000, the United Nations estimated that the world's population was growing at an annual rate of 1.14% (equivalent to around 75 million people),[96] down from a peak of 88 million per year in 1989. By 2000, there were approximately ten times as many people on Earth as there had been in 1700. Globally, the population growth rate has been steadily declining from its peak of 2.19% in 1963, but growth remains high in Latin America, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa.[97]

text:
7–8 children
  6–7 children

  5–6 children
  4–5 children

  3–4 children
  2–3 children

  1–2 children
  0–1 children

text: During the 2010s, Japan and some countries in Europe began to encounter negative population growth (i.e. a net decrease in population over time), due to sub-replacement fertility rates.[92]

text: In 2006, the United Nations stated that the rate of population growth was visibly diminishing due to the ongoing global demographic transition. If this trend continues, the rate of growth may diminish to zero by 2050, concurrent with a world population plateau of 9.2 billion.[98] However, this is only one of many estimates published by the UN; in 2009, UN population projections for 2050 ranged between around 8 billion and 10.5 billion.[99] An alternative scenario is given by the statistician Jorgen Randers, who argues that traditional projections insufficiently take into account the downward impact of global urbanization on fertility. Randers' "most likely scenario" reveals a peak in the world population in the early 2040s at about 8.1 billion people, followed by decline.[100] Adrian Raftery, a University of Washington professor of statistics and of sociology, states that "there’s a 70 percent probability the world population will not stabilize this century. Population, which had sort of fallen off the world’s agenda, remains a very important issue."[101]

text:
Estimated world population figures, 10,000 BC–AD 2000

Estimated world population figures, 10,000 BC–AD 2000 (in log y scale)

World population figures, 1950–2000

Estimated global growth rates, 1950–2050

Estimated and projected populations of the world and its continents (except Antarctica) from 1950 to 2100. The shaded regions correspond to the range of projections by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

text: Population growth by region[edit]

text: The table below shows historical and predicted regional population figures in millions.[102][103][104] The availability of historical population figures varies by region.

text:
World historical and predicted populations (in millions)[105][106][107]

Region
1500
1600
1700
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
1999
2008
2010
2012
2050
2150

World
585
660
710
791
978
1,262
1,650
2,521
6,008
6,707
6,896
7,052
9,725
9,746

Africa
86
114
106
106
107
111
133
221
783
973
1,022
1,052
2,478
2,308

Asia
282
350
411
502
635
809
947
1,402
3,700
4,054
4,164
4,250
5,267
5,561

Europe
168
170
178
190
203
276
408
547
675
732
738
740
734
517

Latin America[Note 1]
40
20
10
16
24
38
74
167
508
577
590
603
784
912

North America[Note 1]
6
3
2
2
7
26
82
172
312
337
345
351
433
398

Oceania
3
3
3
2
2
2
6
13
30
34
37
38
57
51

text:
World historical and predicted populations by percentage distribution[105][106]

Region
1500
1600
1700
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
1999
2008
2010
2012
2050
2150

World
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

Africa
14.7
17.3
14.9
13.4
10.9
8.8
8.1
8.8
13.0
14.5
14.8
15.2
25.48
23.7

Asia
48.2
53.0
57.9
63.5
64.9
64.1
57.4
55.6
61.6
60.4
60.4
60.3
54.16
57.1

Europe
28.7
25.8
25.1
20.6
20.8
21.9
24.7
21.7
11.2
10.9
10.7
10.5
7.55
5.3

Latin America[Note 1]
6.8
3.0
1.4
2.0
2.5
3.0
4.5
6.6
8.5
8.6
8.6
8.6
8.06
9.4

North America[Note 1]
1.0
0.5
0.3
0.3
0.7
2.1
5.0
6.8
5.2
5.0
5.0
5.0
4.45
4.1

Oceania
0.5
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.2
0.4
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.59
0.5

text: Past population[edit]

text: The following table gives estimates of population in the past. The data for 1750 to 1900 are from the UN report "The World at Six Billion"[108] whereas the data from 1950 to 2015 are from a UN data sheet.[11]

text:
Year
World
Africa
Asia
Europe
Latin America & Carib.[Note 1]
North America[Note 1]
Oceania
Notes

70,000 BC
< 0.015

0
0

[109]

10,000 BC
4

[110]

8000 BC
5

6500 BC
5

5000 BC
5

4000 BC
7

3000 BC
14

2000 BC
27

1000 BC
50
7
33
9

[citation needed]

500 BC
100
14
66
16

AD 1
200
23
141
28

1000
400
70
269
50
8
1
2

1500
458
86
243
84
39
3
3

1600
580
114
339
111
10
3
3

1700
682
106
436
125
10
2
3

1750
791
106
502
163
16
2
2

1800
1,000
107
656
203
24
7
3

1850
1,262
111
809
276
38
26
2

1900
1,650
133
947
408
74
82
6

1950
2,525
229
1,394
549
169
172
12.7
[111]

1955
2,758
254
1,534
577
193
187
14.2

1960
3,018
285
1,687
606
221
204
15.8

1965
3,322
322
1,875
635
254
219
17.5

1970
3,682
366
2,120
657
288
231
19.7

1975
4,061
416
2,378
677
326
242
21.5

1980
4,440
478
2,626
694
365
254
23.0

1985
4,853
550
2,897
708
406
267
24.9

1990
5,310
632
3,202
721
447
281
27.0

1995
5,735
720
3,475
728
487
296
29.1

2000
6,127
814
3,714
726
527
314
31.1

2005
6,520
920
3,945
729
564
329
33.4

2010
6,930
1,044
4,170
735
600
344
36.4

2015
7,349
1,186
4,393
738
634
358
39.3

text: Using the above figures, the change in population from 2010 to 2015 was:

text:
World: +420 million
Africa: +142 million
Asia: +223 million
Europe: +3 million
Latin America and Caribbean: +35 million
Northern America: +14 million
Oceania: +2.9 million

text: ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Northern America comprises the northern-most countries and territories of North America: Canada, the United States, Greenland, Bermuda, and St. Pierre and Miquelon. Latin America comprises Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.

tag: ol

text: Projections[edit]

text: Long-term global population growth is difficult to predict. The United Nations and the US Census Bureau both give different estimates – according to the UN, the world population reached seven billion in late 2011,[102] while the USCB asserted that this occurred in March 2012.[113] The UN has issued multiple projections of future world population, based on different assumptions. From 2000 to 2005, the UN consistently revised these projections downward, until the 2006 revision, issued on March 14, 2007, revised the 2050 mid-range estimate upwards by 273 million.

text: Average global birth rates are declining fast, but vary greatly between developed countries (where birth rates are often at or below replacement levels) and developing countries (where birth rates typically remain high). Different ethnicities also display varying birth rates. Death rates can change rapidly due to disease epidemics, wars and other mass catastrophes, or advances in medicine.

text: 2012 United projections show a continued increase in population in the near future with a steady decline in population growth rate; the global population is expected to reach between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050.[114][115] 2003 UN Population Division population projections for the year 2150 range between 3.2 and 24.8 billion.[66] One of many independent mathematical models supports the lower estimate,[116] while a 2014 estimate forecasts between 9.3 and 12.6 billion in 2100, and continued growth thereafter.[117][118] Some analysts have questioned the sustainability of further world population growth, highlighting the growing pressures on the environment, global food supplies, and energy resources.[119][120][121]

text:
UN (medium variant – 2012 revision) and US Census Bureau (June 2015) estimates[122][123]

Year
UN est.
(millions)
Difference
USCB est.
(millions)
Difference

2005
6,514
–
6,473
–

2010
6,916
402
6,866
393

2015
7,324
408
7,256
390

2020
7,717
393
7,643
380

2025
8,083
366
8,007
363

2030
8,425
342
8,341
334

2035
8,743
318
8,646
306

2040
9,039
296
8,926
280

2045
9,308
269
9,180
254

2050
9,551
243
9,408
228

text:
UN 2012 estimates and medium variant projections (in millions)[122]

Year
World
Asia
Africa
Europe
Latin America/Caribbean
Northern America
Oceania

2010
6,916
4,165 (60.2%)
1,031 (14.9%)
740 (10.7%)
596 (8.6%)
347 (5.0%)
37 (0.5%)

2015
7,324
4,385 (59.9%)
1,166 (15.9%)
743 (10.1%)
630 (8.6%)
361 (4.9%)
39 (0.5%)

2020
7,717
4,582 (59.4%)
1,312 (17.0%)
744 (9.6%)
662 (8.6%)
376 (4.9%)
42 (0.5%)

2025
8,083
4,749 (58.8%)
1,468 (18.2%)
741 (9.2%)
691 (8.5%)
390 (4.8%)
45 (0.6%)

2030
8,425
4,887 (58.0%)
1,634 (19.4%)
736 (8.7%)
717 (8.5%)
403 (4.8%)
47 (0.6%)

2035
8,743
4,997 (57.2%)
1,812 (20.7%)
730 (8.3%)
739 (8.5%)
415 (4.8%)
50 (0.6%)

2040
9,039
5,080 (56.2%)
1,999 (22.1%)
724 (8.0%)
757 (8.4%)
426 (4.8%)
52 (0.6%)

2045
9,308
5,136 (55.2%)
2,194 (23.6%)
717 (7.7%)
771 (8.3%)
436 (4.7%)
55 (0.6%)

2050
9,551
5,164 (54.1%)
2,393 (25.1%)
709 (7.4%)
782 (8.2%)
446 (4.7%)
57 (0.6%)

2055
9,766
5,168 (52.9%)
2,595 (26.6%)
700 (7.2%)
788 (8.1%)
456 (4.7%)
59 (0.6%)

2060
9,957
5,152 (51.7%)
2,797 (28.1%)
691 (6.9%)
791 (7.9%)
465 (4.7%)
61 (0.6%)

2065
10,127
5,120 (50.6%)
2,998 (29.6%)
681 (6.7%)
791 (7.8%)
474 (4.7%)
63 (0.6%)

2070
10,277
5,075 (49.4%)
3,195 (31.1%)
673 (6.5%)
788 (7.6%)
482 (4.7%)
64 (0.6%)

2075
10,409
5,019 (48.2%)
3,387 (32.5%)
665 (6.4%)
783 (7.5%)
490 (4.7%)
66 (0.6%)

2080
10,524
4,957 (47.1%)
3,570 (33.9%)
659 (6.3%)
776 (7.4%)
496 (4.7%)
67 (0.6%)

2085
10,626
4,894 (46.1%)
3,742 (35.2%)
653 (6.1%)
767 (7.2%)
502 (4.7%)
68 (0.6%)

2090
10,717
4,833 (45.1%)
3,903 (36.4%)
649 (6.1%)
757 (7.1%)
506 (4.7%)
69 (0.6%)

2095
10,794
4,773 (44.2%)
4,051 (37.6%)
644 (6.0%)
747 (6.9%)
510 (4.7%)
69 (0.6%)

2100
10,854
4,712 (43.4%)
4,185 (38.6%)
639 (5.9%)
736 (6.8%)
513 (4.7%)
70 (0.6%)

text: Mathematical approximations[edit]

text: In 1975, Sebastian von Hoerner proposed a formula for population growth which represented hyperbolic growth with an infinite population in 2025.[124] The hyperbolic growth of the world population observed until the 1970s was later correlated to a non-linear second order positive feedback between demographic growth and technological development. This feedback can be described as follows: technological advance → increase in the carrying capacity of land for people → demographic growth → more people → more potential inventors → acceleration of technological advance → accelerating growth of the carrying capacity → faster population growth → accelerating growth of the number of potential inventors → faster technological advance → hence, the faster growth of the Earth's carrying capacity for people, and so on.[125] The transition from hyperbolic growth to slower rates of growth is related to the demographic transition.

text: According to the Russian demographer Sergey Kapitsa,[126] the world population grew between 67,000 BC and 1965 according to the following formula:

text: where

text:
N is current population
T is the current year
C = (1.86±0.01)·1011
T0 = 2007±1

τ

{\displaystyle \tau }

 = 42±1

text: Years for world population to double[edit]

text: According to linear interpolation and extrapolation of UNDESA population estimates, the world population has doubled, or will double, in the years listed in the tables below (with two different starting points). During the 2nd millennium, each doubling took roughly half as long as the previous doubling, fitting the hyperbolic growth model mentioned above. However, after 2024, it is unlikely that there will be another doubling of the global population in the 21st century.[127]

text:
Starting at 500 million

Population
(in billions)
0.5
1
2
4
8

Year
1500
1804
1927
1974
2024

Years elapsed
304
123
47
50

text:
Starting at 375 million

Population
(in billions)
0.375
0.75
1.5
3
6

Year
1171
1715
1881
1960
1999

Years elapsed
544
166
79
39

text: Overpopulation[edit]

text: Predictions of scarcity[edit]

text: In his 1798 work An Essay on the Principle of Population, the British scholar Thomas Malthus incorrectly predicted that continued population growth would exhaust the global food supply by the mid-19th century. Malthus wrote the essay to refute what he considered the unattainable utopian ideas of William Godwin and Marquis de Condorcet, as presented in Political Justice and The Future Progress of the Human Mind. In 1968, Paul R. Ehrlich reprised Malthus' argument in The Population Bomb, predicting that mass global famine would occur in the 1970s and 1980s.[129]

text: The predictions of Ehrlich and other neo-Malthusians were vigorously challenged by a number of economists, notably Julian Lincoln Simon, and advances in agriculture, collectively known as the Green Revolution, forestalled any potential global famine in the late 20th century. Between 1950 and 1984, as the Green Revolution transformed agriculture around the world, grain production increased by over 250%.[130] The world population has grown by over four billion since the beginning of the Green Revolution, but food production has so far kept pace with population growth. Most scholars believe that, without the Revolution, there would be greater levels of famine and malnutrition than the UN presently documents.[131] However, neo-Malthusians point out that fossil fuels provided the energy for the Green Revolution, in the form of natural gas-derived fertilizers, oil-derived pesticides, and hydrocarbon-fueled irrigation, and that many crops have become so genetically uniform that a crop failure in any one country could potentially have global repercussions.[132]

text: In 2004, a meta-analysis of 70 quantitative studies estimating a sustainable limit to the world population generated a meta-estimate of 7.7 billion people.[133]

text: In May 2008, the price of grain was pushed up severely by the increased cultivation of biofuels, the increase of world oil prices to over $140 per barrel ($880/m3),[134] global population growth,[135] the effects of climate change,[136] the loss of agricultural land to residential and industrial development,[137][138] and growing consumer demand in the population centres of China and India.[139][140] Food riots subsequently occurred in some countries.[141][142] However, oil prices then fell sharply. Resource demands are expected to ease as population growth declines, but it is unclear whether mass food wastage and rising living standards in developing countries will once again create resource shortages.[143][144]

text: David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University, estimates that the sustainable agricultural carrying capacity for the United States is about 200 million people; its population as of 2015 is over 300 million.[145] In 2009, the UK government's chief scientific advisor, Professor John Beddington, warned that growing populations, falling energy reserves and food shortages would create a "perfect storm" of shortages of food, water, and energy by 2030.[128][146] According to a 2009 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the world will have to produce 70% more food by 2050 to feed a projected extra 2.3 billion people.[147]

text: The observed figures for 2007 showed an actual increase in absolute numbers of undernourished people in the world, with 923 million undernourished in 2007, versus 832 million in 1995.[148] The 2009 FAO estimates showed an even more dramatic increase, to 1.02 billion.[149]

text: Environmental impacts[edit]

text: A number of scientists have argued that the current global population expansion and accompanying increase in resource consumption threatens the world's ecosystem.[150][151] The InterAcademy Panel Statement on Population Growth, which was ratified by 58 member national academies in 1994, states that "unprecedented" population growth aggravates many environmental problems, including rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, global warming, and pollution.[152] Indeed, some analysts claim that overpopulation's most serious impact is its effect on the environment.[120] The situation has continued to worsen, as at the time of the 1994 IAP statement, the world population stood at 5.5 billion and lower-bound scenarios predicted a peak of 7.8 billion by 2050, a number that current estimates state will be reached in the late 2020s.

text: Scientists contend that human overpopulation, continued human population growth and overconsumption, particularly by the wealthy, are the primary drivers of mass species extinction.[153][154][155][156] By 2050 population growth, along with profligate consumption, could result in oceans containing more plastic than fish by weight.[155] In November 2017, a statement by 15,364 scientists from 184 countries asserted that rapid human population growth is the "primary driver behind many ecological and even societal threats."[157]

text: A July 2017 study published in Environmental Research Letters argued that the most significant way individuals could mitigate their own carbon footprint is to have fewer children, followed by living without a vehicle, forgoing air travel and adopting a plant-based diet.[158]

text: Population control[edit]

text: Human population control is the practice of intervening to alter the rate of population growth. Historically, human population control has been implemented by limiting a region's birth rate, by voluntary contraception or by government mandate. It has been undertaken as a response to factors including high or increasing levels of poverty, environmental concerns, and religious reasons. The use of abortion in some population control strategies has caused controversy,[159] with religious organizations such as the Roman Catholic Church explicitly opposing any intervention in the human reproductive process.[160]

text: The University of Nebraska publication Green Illusions argues that population control to alleviate environmental pressures need not be coercive. It states that "Women who are educated, economically engaged, and in control of their own bodies can enjoy the freedom of bearing children at their own pace, which happens to be a rate that is appropriate for the aggregate ecological endowment of our planet."[161] The book Fatal Misconception by Matthew Connelly similarly points to the importance of supporting the rights of women in bringing population levels down over time.[162]

text: Overpopulation skepticism[edit]

text: The Population Research Institute (PRI), an anti-abortion, anti-contraception advocacy group, has criticised predictions of overpopulation and attendant resource scarcity, with some describing overpopulation as a "myth".[163] The PRI argues that advances in agricultural, medical, and industrial technology have allowed global economic productivity to keep pace with rising populations despite Malthusian predictions to the contrary. PRI further says that family sizes are naturally declining worldwide due to higher living standards, increased availability of contraception and better economic opportunities for women. However, other commentators have described PRI's arguments on overpopulation as deceptive.[164][165][166]

text: Number of humans who have ever lived[edit]

text: Estimates of the total number of humans who have ever lived range in the order of 100 billion. It is difficult for estimates to be better than rough approximations, as even modern population estimates are fraught with uncertainties on the order of 3% to 5%.[167] Kapitza (1996) cites estimates ranging between 80 and 150 billion.[168] Haub (1995) prepared another figure, updated in 2002 and 2011; the 2011 figure was approximately 107 billion.[3][4][169] Haub characterized this figure as an estimate that required "selecting population sizes for different points from antiquity to the present and applying assumed birth rates to each period".[4]

text: Robust population data only exists for the last two or three centuries. Until the late 18th century, few governments had ever performed an accurate census. In many early attempts, such as in Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire, the focus was on counting merely a subset of the population for purposes of taxation or military service.[170] Thus, there is a significant margin of error when estimating ancient global populations.

text: Another critical factor for such an estimate is the question of pre-modern infant mortality rates; these figures are very difficult to estimate for ancient times due to a lack of accurate records. Haub (1995) estimates that around 40% of those who have ever lived did not survive beyond their first birthday. Haub also stated that "life expectancy at birth probably averaged only about ten years for most of human history".[4]


document_title: Wanna Be a Baller

question_text: who sang the hook on wanna be a baller

question_tokens: who sang the hook on wan na be a baller

root

text: Wanna Be a Baller

text: Legacy[edit]

text:
This song has had a tragic legacy as almost everyone featured on this song has died at a relative early age.[4]
Fat Pat died February 3, 1998, almost one year prior to the song's release. Lil Troy's Cousin Lil Will died in a car accident in February 2016. Big Hawk, who filled in for his brother Fat Pat for the video shoot, died May 1, 2006. Big T died May 8, 2018. He contributed vocals for the song's  hook.

tag: p

text: Yungstar, a Houston-area mixtape legend is the lone survivor and is still active performing and featuring on other artist's songs while recording for his upcoming album.

text: Charts[edit]

text: Peak positions[edit]

text:
Chart (1999)

Peakposition

U.S. Billboard Hot 100[5]

70

U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks[5]

40

U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Singles[5]

31

U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40[5]

8

U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks[5]

36

tag: table


document_title: Jaime Lannister

question_text: who did jamie kill in game of thrones

question_tokens: who did jamie kill in game of thrones

text: Jaime Lannister

text: Character[edit]

text: Description[edit]

text: Jaime was born shortly after the birth of his twin sister Cersei. The two were inseparable as children, and at an early age began an incestuous affair that continued into adulthood and even after Cersei's marriage to Robert Baratheon. At the age of fifteen he participated in the battle against the Kingswood Brotherhood, squiring for Lord Sumner Crakehall, and was subsequently knighted by Ser Arthur Dayne. While returning to Casterly Rock, he visited Cersei at King's Landing, who persuaded him to join the Kingsguard in order to be close to her. Jaime was accepted into the Kingsguard, but Tywin resigned as Hand of the King, taking Cersei with him back to Casterly Rock. Jaime quickly realises that Aerys named him to the Kingsguard solely to strip Tywin of his heir. Jaime becomes further disillusioned after witnessing Aerys burn Rickard and Brandon Stark alive and overhearing him raping his sister-wife Rhaella. When Tywin begins sacking King's Landing at the climax of Robert's Rebellion, Jaime realises that Aerys intends to burn King's Landing with wildfire and kills him, almost immediately being discovered by Tywin's men. Robert Baratheon later pardons Jaime for breaking his vows and names him to his own Kingsguard. Although Jaime considers his assassination of Aerys as his greatest act, his motives for killing him remain unknown to the rest of the realm and he is given the insulting moniker "Kingslayer".

text: Several years later, he and Tyrion rescue a young woman, Tysha, from outlaws, and Tyrion secretly marries her. When Tywin finds out he orders Jaime to tell Tyrion that he staged the incident in order for Tyrion to lose his virginity. Though it is unknown if Jaime was aware that Tywin subsequently forced Tyrion to watch Tysha be gang-raped by his guards, Jaime carries a great amount of guilt for his unkindness to Tyrion in his later years.

text: In A Game of Thrones (1996), Jaime is introduced as one of the Kingsguard, the royal security detail, and the son of wealthy and powerful Tywin Lannister, the former Hand of the King. Jaime's twin is Cersei, the Queen of Westeros by virtue of her marriage to King Robert Baratheon. Perhaps the greatest swordsman in the kingdom, Jaime is sometimes derisively called "the Kingslayer" because he killed the "Mad King" Aerys Targaryen in the coup that put Robert on the Iron Throne.[1]

text: Eric Dodds of Time described Jaime as "handsome, an incomparably skilled fighter and disarmingly witty",[2] with The New Yorker calling the Lannisters "a crowd of high-cheekboned beauties ... who form a family constellation so twisted, charismatic, and cruel that it rivals Flowers in the Attic for blond dysfunction".[3] Lev Grossman wrote for Time that while Jaime and Cersei's younger brother Tyrion is a grotesque dwarf, "the rest of the Lannisters are stunted too, but on the inside."[4] The Los Angeles Times called Jaime "handsome and unscrupulous",[5] though Dodds noted in 2014:

text: Sure, he's done some of the most despicable things on a show full of despicable things—including but not limited to fathering children by incest, attempting to murder a boy who discovered said incest, and the cold-blooded murder of one of his own cousins—but despite all that, the Kingslayer remains one of Game of Thrones' most popular characters.[2]

text: Development[edit]

text: Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly noted that in the novels, "[Jaime is] a vaguely villainous minor character in Game of Thrones, then is basically absent from Clash of Kings, and suddenly he becomes a tragic hero in Storm of Swords."[6] In A Game of Thrones, Jaime is not only carrying on an incestuous affair with his twin sister, but he pushes a young Bran Stark out a high window to his likely death after the boy witnesses them in the act.[7][8] Jaime admits these crimes to Catelyn Stark in A Clash of Kings (1998), and tells her a horrific story of Aerys Targaryen's cruelty.[9] In A Storm of Swords (2000), Jaime initially loathes the female warrior Brienne of Tarth, but both his honor and his reluctant respect for Brienne compel him to lie to their captors to prevent her from being raped.[8][10] He later explains to Brienne that he killed Aerys because the king had planned to incinerate all of King's Landing and its inhabitants rather than let it fall into Robert's hands.[11] When Jaime is released to be sent back to King's Landing in deference to his father, he first saves Brienne, who has been thrown into a bear pit for the mercenaries' amusement.[12] Martin told Rolling Stone in 2014:

text: One of the things I wanted to explore with Jaime, and with so many of the characters, is the whole issue of redemption. When can we be redeemed? Is redemption even possible? ... When do we forgive people? ... Our society is full of people who have fallen in one way or another ... How many good acts make up for a bad act? ... I don't know the answer, but these are questions worth thinking about. I want there to be a possibility of redemption for us, because we all do terrible things. We should be able to be forgiven. Because if there is no possibility of redemption, what's the answer then?[8]

text: Specifically addressing Jaime's attempted murder of Bran, Martin said:

text: [What] Jaime did [to Bran] is interesting ... Remember, Jaime isn't just trying to kill Bran because he's an annoying little kid. Bran has seen something that is basically a death sentence for Jaime, for Cersei, and their children ... So I've asked people who do have children, "Well, what would you do in Jaime's situation?" They say, "Well, I'm not a bad guy—I wouldn't kill." Are you sure? Never? If Bran tells King Robert, he's going to kill you and your sister-lover, and your three children ... Then many of them hesitate. Probably more people than not would say, "Yeah, I would kill someone else's child to save my own child, even if that other child was innocent." These are the difficult decisions people make, and they're worth examining.[8]

text: Storylines[edit]

text: A Game of Thrones[edit]

text: Jaime Lannister accompanies the royal family to Winterfell, where King Robert Baratheon hopes to persuade his old friend Ned Stark to serve as Hand of the King. During the visit, Ned's young son Bran inadvertently spies Jaime and Cersei having sex in a remote tower,[7] at which point Jaime pushes the boy out a window, intending to kill Bran to keep their relationship secret.[8] Bran managed to survive, though crippled, and when an assassin later tries to kill Bran, Catelyn Stark accuses and arrests Tyrion.[1] In revenge, Jaime instigates a brawl with Ned and his men in the streets of King's Landing, killing many on both sides. Ned later discovers that Robert's three children are actually the products of Jaime and Cersei's affair, but is executed by the oldest child, Joffrey Baratheon, upon the latter's ascension as king. Jaime then rides for the Riverlands to aid Tywin in his campaign against the Riverlands, taking command of half the Lannister host. He captures the Riverlands' capital of Riverrun, but his army is waylaid by Robb Stark's army in the Battle of the Whispering Wood. Jaime is taken prisoner and incarcerated in Riverrun. Despite his capture Joffrey names Jaime as commander of his Kingsguard.

text: Hillary Busis of Entertainment Weekly called the twist of Jaime and Cersei in the tower "lurid and shocking, exactly what I needed to jolt me awake and make me start paying closer attention ... By the end of the chapter — 'The things I do for love' — I was totally hooked on Thrones".[7] Mikal Gilmore of Rolling Stone noted in 2014 that the moment in which Jaime pushes Bran to his likely death "grabs you by the throat".[8] Martin commented in the interview:

text: I've had a million people tell me that was the moment that hooked them, where they said, "Well, this is just not the same story I read a million times before."[8]

text: A Clash of Kings[edit]

text: Tyrion makes several attempts to free Jaime, first by having disguised Lannister guards attempt to break him out and then by offering to swap Arya and Sansa Stark for Jaime. After hearing of the supposed deaths of Bran and Rickon Stark, Catelyn interrogates Jaime. Jaime admits to pushing Bran out the tower window, to his incest with Cersei and to fathering her children. Jaime then mocks Ned for having tarnished his own honour by fathering a bastard, prompting Catelyn to call her bodyguard Brienne of Tarth for her sword.[9][13]

text: A Storm of Swords[edit]

text: Jaime is freed by Catelyn and sent to King's Landing to exchange for Sansa and Arya, escorted by Brienne of Tarth and Jaime's cousin Ser Cleos Frey. Cleos is killed by bandits and Jaime and Brienne are captured by the Brave Companions, who were formerly in service to Tywin but have defected to Roose Bolton. Their leader, Vargo Hoat, cuts off Jaime's sword hand in the hope that Tywin will blame Roose and prevent the Boltons defecting to the Lannisters.[10][12]  While held captive at Harrenhal, Jaime reveals to Brienne the circumstances surrounding his murder of King Aerys.[11][12] Roose Bolton releases Jaime but keeps Brienne hostage. While returning to King's Landing, Jaime has a dream about Brienne and decides to return to Harrenhal to rescue her from Hoat.

text: Jaime returns to King's Landing to discover that Joffrey has been poisoned and Tyrion on trial for the murder, though Jaime refuses to believe Tyrion is guilty. He gifts Brienne a Valyrian steel sword forged from House Stark's ancestral sword Ice and tasks her with finding and protecting the fugitive Sansa Stark. He then forces Varys into helping Tyrion escape, confessing to Tyrion that he owed him a debt for his role in Tysha's fare. Outraged, Tyrion spitefully reveals to Jaime Cersei's affairs during his imprisonment, and lies that he did indeed kill Joffrey, before killing Tywin.[12]

text: A Feast for Crows[edit]

text: Cersei orders Jaime to go to Riverrun and dislodge Ser Brynden "Blackfish" Tully. Before his leaving, Jaime has an armorer forge him a prosthetic hand. He takes the tongueless Ser Ilyn Payne with him to teach him to fight with his left hand, using the lessons to confess to his numerous crimes. During the march, he encounters his cousin Lancel, who confesses to his affair with Cersei. Jaime persuades Edmure Tully to force the Blackfish's surrender by threatening to sack the castle and kill Edmure's child when it is born. Jaime later receives a letter from Cersei, who has been imprisoned by the High Sparrow and is awaiting trial and begs Jaime to be her champion in her trial by combat, but Jaime has the letter burned without reply.[14]

text: A Dance with Dragons[edit]

text: Jaime travels to Raventree Hall and manages to have Lord Tytos Blackwood surrender, officially ending House Stark's insurrection. In the aftermath, he is approached by Brienne, who claims that Sansa is in danger from Sandor "The Hound" Clegane.[15] It is unknown how much of this is true, as Brienne was previously seen as a prisoner of a reanimated Catelyn Stark and the anti-Lannister Brotherhood Without Banners.

text: Family tree of House Lannister[edit]

text:
hidevteDescendants of Tytos Lannister

Tytos[a]JeyneMarbrand[b]

Joanna[c]Tywin[c]EmmonFrey[c]Genna[c]Kevan[c]DornaSwyft[c]Tygett[c]DarlessaMarbrand[c]Gerion[c]Briony[d]

RobertBaratheon[c]Cersei[c]Jaime"The Kingslayer"[c]Tysha[e]Tyrion"The Imp"[c]SansaStark[f]AmereiFrey[g]Lancel[c]Martyn[c]Willem[c]Janei[c]Tyrek[c]ErmesandeHayford[h]JoyHill[c]

JoffreyBaratheon[i][j]MyrcellaBaratheon[i][j]MargaeryTyrell[k][l]TommenBaratheon[i][j]TionFrey[c]"Red" WalderFrey[m]JeyneDarry[n]CleosFrey[c]LyonelFrey[m]Melesa Crakehall

TywinFrey[n]WillemFrey[n]

References and notes:

^ Jump up to: a b Martin, George R. R. (1996). "Chapter 56: Tyrion". A Game of Thrones. p. 593. ISBN 978-0-553-89784-5.

^ Jump up to: a b Martin, George R. R.; García Jr., Elio M.; Antonsson, Linda (2014). The World of Ice & Fire. ISBN 978-0-553-80544-4.

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Martin. "Appendix: House Lannister". A Game of Thrones. pp. 787–788.

Jump up ^ Martin; García Jr.; Antonsson. "Appendix: Lannister Lineage". The World of Ice & Fire.

Jump up ^ Tyrion's first wife was a peasant girl named Tysha. The marriage was later annulled by Lord Tywin's order.

Jump up ^ Martin, George R. R. (2000). "Chapter 28: Sansa". A Storm of Swords. pp. 382–393. ISBN 978-0-553-89787-6.

Jump up ^ Martin, George R. R. (2005). "Chapter 30: Jaime". A Feast for Crows. pp. 501–518. ISBN 978-0-553-90032-3.

Jump up ^ Martin. "Appendix: The King on the Iron Throne". A Storm of Swords. p. 1131.

^ Jump up to: a b c Martin. "Appendix: House Baratheon". A Game of Thrones. p. 783.

^ Jump up to: a b c Though officially Robert's children, Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen are the products of an incestuous affair between Cersei and Jaime.

Jump up ^ Martin. "Appendix: The Queen Regent". A Feast for Crows. p. 782.

Jump up ^ Martin, George R. R. (2011). "Appendix: The Boy King". A Dance with Dragons. p. 1055. ISBN 978-0-553-90565-6.
[m]
[n]

^ Jump up to: a b Martin, George R. R. (2000). "Appendix: House Lannister". A Storm of Swords. ISBN 0-553-10663-5.

^ Jump up to: a b c Martin, George R. R. (2011). "Appendix: House Lannister". A Dance with Dragons. ISBN 978-0553801477.

text: TV adaptation[edit]

text: Jaime is portrayed by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the HBO adaptation Game of Thrones.[5] His casting was announced on August 20, 2009.[16]

text: In October 2014, Coster-Waldau and several other key cast members, all contracted for six seasons of the series, renegotiated their deals to include a potential seventh season and salary increases for seasons five, six, and seven.[17][18] The Hollywood Reporter called the raises "huge", noting that the deal would make the performers "among the highest-paid actors on cable TV".[17] Deadline Hollywood put the number for season five at "close to $300,000 an episode" for each actor,[18] and The Hollywood Reporter wrote in June 2016 that the performers would each be paid "upward of $500,000 per episode" for seasons seven and the potential eight.[19] In 2017, he became one of the highest paid actors on television and will earn £2 million per episode for the show.[20][21]

text: Matt Fowler of IGN noted in 2013 that "the people who do seem to get redemption arcs on this show are the villains".[22] Over the course of the first three seasons, the series has transitioned Jaime from an obvious villain to an antihero of sorts.[23][24][25] Eric Dodds of Time wrote that Jaime had become "a complex, bizarrely likable character".[2] Andrew Romano of The Daily Beast explained:

text: But Jaime wasn't a black-and-white baddie for long. In fact, GoT spent the next three seasons transforming him into a pretty sympathetic character. The turning point was when Jaime was captured and chained up by the Starks—an ordeal that humbled him, humanized him, and eventually left him without a sword hand, struggling to find a new, post-Kingslayer identity for himself. Sure, Jaime could still slaughter his own cousin to escape captivity. But he could also rescue his sidekick Brienne of Tarth from a bear. And pledge to return the Stark girls to their mother, Catelyn. And refuse to kill his brother Tyrion on Cersei's behalf. And so on. He was a compromised, conflicted asshole—but he was basically trying to do the right thing.[26]

text: Fowler wrote that Jaime's adventure with Brienne was "the best storyline of the season" in  Season 3, aside from the Red Wedding.[22]

text: Jaime's apparent rape of Cersei in the fourth season episode "Breaker of Chains" created controversy among fans and journalists, who debated the show's depiction of sexual violence against women as well as Jaime's character development.[23][27][28]  The showrunners never commented on what their intention with the scene actually was.  The cast members involved initially gave only vague comments, but after the fourth season was released on Blu-ray and the showrunners avoided making any comment about the scene in it (it is conspicuously the only episode which has no commentary track), both Coster-Waldau and Headey publicly stated that the scene was never intended to portray rape at all - they were given no instructions to this effect (such as in the script) nor did they play it that way, and apparently the scene was just edited very confusingly.

text: In the source novel A Storm of Swords, the sex between Jaime and Cersei in the equivalent scene is consensual.[23][26][29][30] Several critics argued that the TV series' change damaged Jaime's redemption arc.[24][25][26][31] Dodds noted that the episode "irreparably changes the way we see Jaime Lannister".[2] Alyssa Rosenberg of The Washington Post wrote:

text: What happens next dramatically complicates the work Game of Thrones has done to make Jaime a more explicable, even sympathetic character, given what we learned of his reasons for killing the king he was sworn to protect. Jaime has experienced profound losses over the last two seasons. His hand and his identity as a fighter have been taken from him. His son has been murdered. His father, a toxic, commanding man has returned to his life. And what Cersei is asking of Jaime is that he remove one of the few remaining things that gives him happiness, the little brother who makes him feel better about his hand, from existence. To assuage her pain and grief, Cersei is asking Jaime to inflict more pain on himself ... But his response is not to stop loving her, not to stop believing that he is victim to the gods. Instead, Jaime rapes his sister, passing that sense of unendurable pain on to her. He must know that this is the worst possible way that he could hurt her. Jaime knew that Robert raped Cersei ... Not only does raping Cersei remind his sister of her repeated, humiliating violation, Jaime is poisoning their own relationship, the thing that had been Cersei’s antidote to the miseries of her marriage. It is an exceptionally cruel thing for Jaime to do.[32]

text: Coster-Waldau said, "If you look closer there are those moments where she—well, I haven't seen the finished edit, of course—but we tried to have it where she goes into it then she pulls away, she goes in then she pulls away, but of course he is forcing himself."[33] Later he and his co-star Lena Headey (Cersei) spoke with Entertainment Weekly during the filming of season 5, admitting that they were never directed or intended to film a rape scene.[34] Headey stated:

text: It’s that terrible thing as a woman—talking about something as horrendous as rape and dismissing it, which I’m not. But we never discussed it as that. It was a woman in grief for her dead child, and the father of the child—who happens to be her brother—who never really acknowledged the children is standing with her. We’ve all experienced grief. There’s a moment of wanting to fill a void, and that is often very visceral, physical. That, for me, is where she was at. There was an emotional block, and [her brother] was just a bit of a drug for her.[34]

text: The Jaime-Cersei scene was subsequently ignored for the rest of Season 4 and the rest of the series. Writing on website TheMarySue.com, Rebecca Pahle claimed that not referring to the scene again, instead of as a long and developed subplot, trivialized rape—if, in fact, it was ever the actual intention to portray it as a rape scene. Pahle argued that in real life a woman would be traumatized by being raped, not act as if nothing had happened immediately afterwards. Pahle said that even if the show's creators did not intend it as a rape scene, ignoring questions about the scene and hoping they would go away over time was insensitive to the audience.[35]

text: In 2016, Christopher Hooton wrote for The Independent:

text: Game of Thrones is full of characters who are very sure of themselves ... Except Jaime Lannister, who was given a considerable amount of screen time this week in order to establish a little more complexity in his character. Thus far in the show his character arc has gone from "massive jerk", to "still a massive jerk but admirable in how he withstands imprisonment" to "maybe he's starting to redeem himself". This third strand had waned a little in season 6 as he returned to Cersei's side, but showed glimpses of returning in episode 8 as he was reunited with Brienne, about the only character who can appeal to his sense of guilt and honour.[36]

text: Storylines[edit]

text: First season[edit]

text: Jaime's storyline in the first season remains, for the most part, identical to his book storyline, with only minor details altered. In the aftermath of Jaime's capture, he confesses to Catelyn that he tried to kill Bran, but refuses to reveal why.

text: Second season[edit]

text: Robb brings a captive Jaime with his camp as they march through the Westerlands, as Robb fears Tywin may coerce one of his bannerman into freeing Jaime. At one point Jaime attempts to escape by beating his cousin and fellow inmate Alton Lannister to death and strangling his guard Torrhen Karstark when he comes to investigate; though unsuccessfully, the anger of Torrhen's father Rickard proves fatal for Robb's campaign in the coming months. After Jaime goads Catelyn by mentioning Ned's infidelity, she releases him and has Brienne of Tarth escort him to King's Landing to trade for Sansa and Arya.

text: Third season[edit]

text: Jaime and Brienne are captured by a squad of Bolton soldiers. Jaime manages to convince them not to rape Brienne, but their leader Locke takes umbrage when Jaime tries to use his status to secure his own release and chops off Jaime's sword hand. The two are taken to Harrenhal, where the former maester Qyburn treats Jaime's wound and Jaime reveals to Brienne why he killed Aerys. Roose Bolton lets Jaime return to King's Landing but insists on keeping Brienne prisoner for abetting treason, though Jaime ultimately returns to rescue Brienne from being killed by a bear for Locke's amusement. The two return to King's Landing and Jaime is reunited with Cersei.

text: Fourth season[edit]

text: Tywin gifts Jaime a sword forged from Ice and asks him to resign from the Kingsguard and rule Casterly Rock, disowning him when he refuses. Qyburn fits Jaime with a gilded steel hand and Tyrion arranges for Jaime to have sword lessons with his bodyguard Bronn. Cersei initially refuses to resume their relationship, but ultimately relents and has sex with Jaime in front of Joffrey's body, lying in state. Jaime gifts Brienne Tywin's sword and the services of Tyrion's squire Podrick Payne, asking her to find Arya and Sansa and take them to safety. With Tyrion accused of Joffrey's murder, Jaime convinces Tywin to spare Tyrion in return for leaving the Kingsguard, though Tyrion later chooses trial by combat. Tyrion loses the trial and is sentenced to death, but Jaime releases him from his cell and helps him escape to Essos.

text: Fifth season[edit]

text: Cersei guilts Jaime for releasing Tyrion, and Jaime later admits to Bronn that he will kill Tyrion the next time they meet. When a message arrives from the Martells subtly threatening Myrcella as revenge for Prince Oberyn Martell's death in Tyrion's trial by combat, Jaime and Bronn travel to Dorne in secret to retrieve her. As they make their escape they are accosted by Oberyn's bastard daughters, the Sand Snakes, and engage in a fight before all five are arrested by the Water Gardens' palace guards. Doran Martell realises that the message was sent by Oberyn's paramour Ellaria Sand and decides to send Myrcella and his own son Trystane back to King's Landing with Jaime. As the ship sets sail, Myrcella admits to Jaime that she knows and is happy that he is her father. The two share a brief embrace before Myrcella suddenly collapses and dies, having been poisoned by Ellaria.

text: Sixth season[edit]

text: Jaime returns to King's Landing with Myrcella's corpse. He orders Trystane to stay on the boat outside the city to protect him from Cersei's wrath, and sends word to Doran naming Ellaria as Myrcella's killer, though Ellaria promptly kills Doran, has Obara and Nymeria kill Trystane and seizes control of Dorne. At Myrcella's funeral, Jaime confronts the religious leader, the High Sparrow, for having forced Cersei to walk naked through the streets of King's Landing as punishment for adultery, but is forced to stand down at the arrival of the Faith Militant. Jaime enlists the Tyrell army to march on the Sept of Baelor to secure the release of Margaery and Loras Tyrell. However, they find that Margaery has seemingly become a follower of the High Sparrow and that Tommen has forged an alliance with the Faith Militant. As punishment for taking up arms against the Faith, Jaime is removed from the Kingsguard. He is sent to Riverrun with Bronn to assist House Frey in ousting Brynden "Blackfish" Tully and the occupying Tully forces. After a failed parlay, Brienne arrives and beseeches Jaime to end the siege without bloodshed, so the Tully rebels can help Sansa Stark retake Winterfell. Brienne also fails, so Jaime manipulates the captured Edmure Tully into thinking his infant son will be killed if Edmure does not order a surrender. Edmure is released and promptly opens the gates to the Lannisters. Jaime sees Brienne and Podrick fleeing by boat from the castle walls, but only waves a discreet farewell and does not alert his men.

text: After traveling to House Frey's fortress The Twins for a feast celebrating their victory, Jaime returns to King's Landing, and is horrified to discover that the Great Sept has been destroyed as a result of Cersei's plotting. He returns to the Red Keep in time to witness Cersei being crowned as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, immediately realizing that Cersei essentially murdered the Faith Militant, the Tyrells, Grand Maester Pycelle and their uncle Kevan to acquire her new power.

text: Seventh season[edit]

text: Despite his discomfort at the circumstances leading to Cersei's coronation, Jaime remains loyal to his sister, with Daenerys Targaryen and her forces sailing on Westeros. Cersei agrees to marry Euron Greyjoy after the war against Daenerys is won, but continues her relationship with Jaime, no longer attempting to hide their intimacy from their servants. Jaime negotiates with Randyll Tarly to pledge allegiance to the Lannisters; with the help of House Tarly's forces he leads the Lannister army to defeat the Tyrell army at Highgarden, following Olenna Tyrell's defection to Daenerys following Cersei's role in the death of the other Tyrells. In the aftermath of the battle, Jaime allows Olenna to commit suicide by poisoning. Before she dies, Olenna reveals that she was responsible for poisoning Joffrey.

text: As the Lannister forces return to King's Landing, they are attacked by Daenerys, with her horde of Dothraki and her dragon Drogon. Although the Lannisters suffer heavy casualties, Daenerys is forced to dismount Drogon after Bronn wounds the dragon with a scorpion. Jaime attempts to kill Daenerys but is narrowly saved from being burned alive by Drogon by Bronn's intervention. Jaime and Bronn fall into the Blackwater Rush, and survive the battle by being carried downstream and away from the carnage. Jaime returns to King's Landing, where he warns Cersei that the Lannisters are doomed if Daenerys escalates the conflict further and tells her of Olenna's confession.

text: Bronn takes Jaime to the Red Keep cellars under the pretense of training him; however, this is a ruse to allow Tyrion (who is now Hand to Daenerys) to speak with Jaime. Tyrion suggests a ceasefire so that Westeros can fight the threat posed by the White Walkers instead and proposes a meeting between Daenerys and Cersei so Jon Snow can present evidence of their existence. Jaime is apparently convinced by Tyrion and relays the message to Cersei. Cersei is skeptical, but remains adamant that the Lannisters will prevail against any foe. She also reveals that she is pregnant with Jaime's child.

text: At the meeting, Jon and Daenerys present a wight, convincing the Lannisters of the White Walkers' existence. After some persuasion from Tyrion, Cersei declares that she will order the Lannister forces north to aid in the war against the army of the dead. However, when Jaime begins organising the march north, she reveals to him that she was lying and will not intervene until either of the two enemies – dead and living – are defeated (conveniently forgetting or disregarding the fact that if the dead win their numbers will increase even more). Outraged by Cersei's shortsightedness and selfishness, Jaime leaves Cersei's side and rides north alone.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Matt Roush wrote for TV Guide that Coster-Waldau plays "dastardly" Jaime "with malevolent charisma",[37] and Dodds noted that, despite the "despicable things" he has done, "the Kingslayer remains one of Game of Thrones' most popular characters".[2] Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe wrote:

text: The most riveting characters are the most self-serving, notably the queen, Cersei ... and her twin brother Jaime Lannister ... with whom she is having an incestuous affair. They have gorgeous, aristocratic features, but they are pure, compelling evil.[38]

text: Recognition and awards[edit]

text: Coster-Waldau has received several nominations for his portrayal of Jaime, including the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2013,[39] the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film in 2013,[40] the Gold Derby TV Award for Best Drama Supporting Actor in 2013,[41] the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Anti-Hero in 2014,[42] the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television in 2014,[43] the Zulu Award for Best Actor in 2017,[44] and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2018.[45]


document_title: Ash Wednesday

question_text: where do the ashes come from that they use on ash wednesday

text: Ash Wednesday

text: Observances[edit]

text: Fasting and abstinence[edit]

text: Many Christian denominations emphasize fasting, as well as abstinence during the season of Lent and in particular, on its first day, Ash Wednesday. The First Council of Nicæa spoke of Lent as a period of fasting for forty days, in preparation for Eastertide.[6] In many places, Christians historically abstained from food for a whole day until the evening, and at sunset, Western Christians traditionally broke the Lenten fast, which is often known as the Black Fast.[7][8] In India and Pakistan, many Christians continue this practice of fasting until sunset on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with some fasting in this manner throughout the whole season of Lent.[9]

text: In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat, and repentance – a day of contemplating one's transgressions. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Roman Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 (whose health enables them to do so) are permitted to consume only one full meal, which may be supplemented by two smaller meals, which together should not equal the full meal. Some Catholics will go beyond the minimum obligations demanded by the Church and undertake a complete fast or a bread and water fast until sunset. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are also days of abstinence from meat (mammals and fowl), as are all Fridays during Lent.[10] Some Roman Catholics continue fasting throughout Lent, as was the Church's traditional requirement,[11] concluding only after the celebration of the Easter Vigil. Where the Ambrosian Rite is observed, the day of fasting and abstinence is postponed to the first Friday in the Ambrosian Lent, nine days later.[12]

text: Many Lutheran parishes teach communicants to fast on Ash Wednesday, with some people choosing to continue doing so throughout the entire season of Lent, especially on Good Friday.[13][14][15][16] A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent recommends the Lutheran guideline to "Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday with only one simple meal during the day, usually without meat".[17]

text: In the Anglican Communion, the entire forty days of Lent are designated days of fasting and abstinence in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer,[18] with the Traditional Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for Members of the Anglican Communion defining "Fasting, usually meaning not more than a light breakfast, one full meal, and one half meal, on the forty days of Lent."[19] The same text defines abstinence as refraining from flesh meat on all Fridays of the Church Year, except for those during Christmastide.[19]

text: The historic Methodist homilies regarding the Sermon on the Mount stress the importance of the Lenten fast, which begins on Ash Wednesday.[20] The United Methodist Church therefore states that:

text: There is a strong biblical base for fasting, particularly during the 40 days of Lent leading to the celebration of Easter. Jesus, as part of his spiritual preparation, went into the wilderness and fasted 40 days and 40 nights, according to the Gospels.[21]

text: Rev. Jacqui King, the minister of Nu Faith Community United Methodist Church in Houston explained the philosophy of fasting during Lent as "I'm not skipping a meal because in place of that meal I'm actually dining with God".[22]

text: The Reformed Church in America describes Ash Wednesday as a day "focused on prayer, fasting, and repentance."[1] The liturgy for Ash Wednesday thus contains the following "Invitation to Observe a Lenten Discipline" read by the presider:[23]

text: We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and our need for the love and forgiveness shown to us in Jesus Christ. I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a Holy Lent, by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by practicing works of love, and by reading and reflecting on God's Holy Word.[23]

text: Many of the Churches in the Reformed tradition retained the Lenten fast in its entirety, although it was made voluntary, rather than obligatory.[24]

text: Ashes[edit]

text: Ashes are ceremonially placed on the heads of Christians on Ash Wednesday, either by being sprinkled over their heads or, in English-speaking countries, more often by being marked on their foreheads as a visible cross. The words (based on Genesis 3:19) used traditionally to accompany this gesture are, "Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris." ("Remember, man, that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return.") This custom is credited to Pope Gregory I the Great (c. 540–604).[26] In the 1969 revision of the Roman Rite, an alternative formula (based on Mark 1:15) was introduced and given first place "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" and the older formula was translated as "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." The old formula, based on the words spoken to Adam and Eve after their sin,[27] reminds worshippers of their sinfulness and mortality and thus, implicitly, of their need to repent in time.[28] The newer formula makes explicit what was only implicit in the old.

text: Various manners of placing the ashes on worshippers' heads are in use within the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, the two most common being to use the ashes to make a cross on the forehead and sprinkling the ashes over the crown of the head. Originally, the ashes were strewn over men's heads, but, probably because women had their heads covered in church, were placed on the foreheads of women.[29] In the Catholic Church the manner of imposing ashes depends largely on local custom, since no fixed rule has been laid down.[25] Although the account of Ælfric of Eynsham shows that in about the year 1000 the ashes were "strewn" on the head,[30] the marking of the forehead is the method that now prevails in English-speaking countries and is the only one envisaged in the Occasional Offices of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea, a publication described as "noticeably Anglo-Catholic in character".[31] In its ritual of "Blessing of Ashes", this states that "the ashes are blessed at the beginning of the Eucharist; and after they have been blessed they are placed on the forehead of the clergy and people."[31] The Ash Wednesday ritual of the Church of England, Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, contains "The Imposition of Ashes" in its Ash Wednesday liturgy.[32] On Ash Wednesday, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, traditionally takes part in a penitential procession from the Church of Saint Anselm to the Basilica of Santa Sabina, where, in accordance with the custom in Italy and many other countries, ashes are sprinkled on his head, not smudged on his forehead, and he places ashes on the heads of others in the same way.[33]

text: The Anglican ritual, used in Papua New Guinea states that, after the blessing of the ashes, "the priest marks his own forehead and then the foreheads of the servers and congregation who come and kneel, or stand, where they normally receive the Blessed Sacrament."[31] The corresponding Catholic ritual in the Roman Missal for celebration within Mass merely states: "Then the Priest places ashes on the head of those present who come to him, and says to each one ..."[34] Pre-1970 editions had much more elaborate instructions about the order in which the participants were to receive the ashes, but again without any indication of the form of placing the ashes on the head.[35] The 1969 revision of the Roman Rite inserted into the Mass the solemn ceremony of blessing ashes and placing them on heads, but also explicitly envisaged a similar solemn ceremony outside of Mass.[34] The Book of Blessings contains a simple rite.[25] While the solemn rite would normally be carried out within a church building, the simple rite could appropriately be used almost anywhere. While only a priest or deacon may bless the ashes, laypeople may do the placing of the ashes on a person's head. Even in the solemn rite, lay men or women may assist the priest in distributing the ashes. In addition, laypeople take blessed ashes left over after the collective ceremony and place them on the head of the sick or of others who are unable to attend the blessing.[25][36] (In 2014, Anglican Liverpool Cathedral likewise offered to impose ashes within the church without a solemn ceremony.)[37]

text: In addition, those who attend such Catholic services, whether in a church or elsewhere, traditionally take blessed ashes home with them to place on the heads of other members of the family,[38] and it is recommended to have envelopes available to facilitate this practice.[39] At home the ashes are then placed with little or no ceremony.

text: Unlike its discipline regarding sacraments, the Catholic Church does not exclude from receiving sacramentals, such as the placing of ashes on the head, those who are not Catholics and perhaps not even baptized.[36] Even those who have been excommunicated and are therefore forbidden to celebrate sacramentals are not forbidden to receive them.[40] After describing the blessing, the rite of Blessing and Distribution of Ashes (within Mass) states: "Then the Priest places ashes on the heads of all those present who come to him."[34] The Catholic Church does not limit distribution of blessed ashes to within church buildings and has suggested the holding of celebrations in shopping centres, nursing homes, and factories.[39] Such celebrations presume preparation of an appropriate area and include readings from Scripture (at least one) and prayers, and are somewhat shorter if the ashes are already blessed.[41]

text: 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]

text: Where ashes are placed on the head by smudging the forehead with a sign of the cross, many Christians choose to keep the mark visible throughout the day. The churches have not imposed this as an obligatory rule, and the ashes may even be wiped off immediately after receiving them;[44][45] but some Christian leaders, such as Lutheran pastor Richard P. Bucher and Catholic bishop Kieran Conry, recommend it as a public profession of faith.[46][47] Morgan Guyton, a Methodist pastor and leader in the Red-Letter Christian movement, encourages Christians to wear their ashed cross throughout the day as an exercise of religious freedom.[48]

text: Ashes to Go[edit]

text: Since 2007, some members of major Christian Churches, including Anglicans, Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists, have participated in the Ashes to Go program, in which clergy go outside of their churches to public places, such as downtowns, sidewalks and train stations, to distribute ashes to passersby,[49][50][51] even to people waiting in their cars for a stoplight to change.[52] The Anglican priest Emily Mellott of Calvary Church in Lombard took up the idea and turned it into a movement, stated that the practice was also an act of evangelism.[53][54] Anglicans and Catholics in parts of the United Kingdom such as Sunderland, are offering Ashes to Go together: Marc Lyden-Smith, the priest of Saint Mary's Church, stated that the ecumenical effort is a "tremendous witness in our city, with Catholics and Anglicans working together to start the season of Lent, perhaps reminding those who have fallen away from the Church, or have never been before, that the Christian faith is alive and active in Sunderland."[49] The Catholic Student Association of Kent State University, based at the University Parish Newman Center, offered ashes to university students who were going through the Student Center of that institution in 2012,[55] and Douglas Clark of St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church in Statesboro, among others, have participated in Ashes to Go.[56][57] On Ash Wednesday 2017, Father Paddy Mooney, the priest of St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in the Irish town of Glenamaddy, set up an Ashes to Go station through which commuters could drive and receive ashes from their car; the parish church also had "drive-through prayers during Lent with people submitting requests into a box left in the church grounds without having to leave their car".[58] Reverend Trey Hall, pastor of Urban Village United Methodist Church, stated that when his local church offered ashes in Chicago "nearly 300 people received ashes – including two people who were waiting in their car for a stoplight to change."[52] In 2013, churches not only in the United States, but also at least one church each in the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa, participated in Ashes to Go.[59] Outside of their church building, Saint Stephen Martyr Lutheran Church in Canton offered Ashes to Go for "believers whose schedules make it difficult to attend a traditional service" in 2016.[60] In the United States itself 34 states and the District of Columbia had at least one church taking part. Most of these churches (parishes) were Episcopal, but there were also several Methodist churches, as well as Presbyterian and Catholic churches.[61]

text: Commination Office[edit]

text: Robin Knowles Wallace states that the traditional Ash Wednesday church service includes Psalm 51 (the Miserere), prayers of confession and the sign of ashes.[62] No single one of the traditional services contains all of these elements. The Anglican church's traditional Ash Wednesday service, titled A Commination,[63] contains the first two elements, but not the third. On the other hand, the Catholic Church's traditional service has the blessing and distribution of ashes but, while prayers of confession and recitation of Psalm 51 (the first psalm at Lauds on all penitential days, including Ash Wednesday) are a part of its general traditional Ash Wednesday liturgy,[64] they are not associated specifically with the rite of blessing the ashes. The rite of blessing has acquired an untraditional weak association with that particular psalm only since 1970, when it was inserted into the celebration of Mass, at which a few verses of Psalm 51 are used as a responsorial psalm. Coincidentally, it was only about the same time that in some areas Anglicanism resumed the rite of ashes.

text: In the mid-16th century, the first Book of Common Prayer removed the ceremony of the ashes from the liturgy of the Church of England and replaced it with what would later be called the Commination Office.[65] In that 1549 edition, the rite was headed: "The First Day of Lent: Commonly Called Ash-Wednesday".[66] The ashes ceremony was not forbidden, but was not included in the church's official liturgy.[67] Its place was taken by reading biblical curses of God against sinners, to each of which the people were directed to respond with Amen.[68][69] The text of the "Commination or Denouncing of God's Anger and Judgments against Sinners" begins: "In the primitive Church there was a godly discipline, that, at the beginning of Lent, such persons as stood convicted of notorious sin were put to open penance, and punished in this world, that their souls might be saved in the day of the Lord; and that others, admonished by their example, might be the more afraid to offend. Instead whereof, until the said discipline may be restored again, (which is much to be wished,) it is thought good that at this time (in the presence of you all) should be read the general sentences of God's cursing against impenitent sinners".[70] In line with this, Joseph Hooper Maude wrote that the establishment of The Commination was due to a desire of the reformers "to restore the primitive practice of public penance in church". He further stated that "the sentences of the greater excommunication" within The Commination corresponded to those used in the ancient Church.[71] The Anglican Church's Ash Wednesday liturgy, he wrote, also traditionally included the Miserere, which, along with "what follows" in the rest of the service (lesser Litany, Lord's Prayer, three prayers for pardon and final blessing), "was taken from the Sarum services for Ash Wednesday".[71] From the Sarum Rite practice in England the service took Psalm 51 and some prayers that in the Sarum Missal accompanied the blessing and distribution of ashes.[64][72] In the Sarum Rite, the Miserere psalm was one of the seven penitential psalms that were recited at the beginning of the ceremony.[73] In the 20th century, the Episcopal Church introduced three prayers from the Sarum Rite and omitted the Commination Office from its liturgy.[67]

text: Low church ceremonies[edit]

text: In some of the low church traditions, other practices are sometimes added or substituted, as other ways of symbolizing the confession and penitence of the day. For example, in one common variation, small cards are distributed to the congregation on which people are invited to write a sin they wish to confess. These small cards are brought forth to the altar table where they are burned.[74]

text: Regional customs[edit]

text: In Victorian era, theatres refrained from presenting costumed shows on Ash Wednesday, so they provided other entertainment, as mandated by the Church of England (Anglican Church).[75] Also, "in Iceland, on Ash Wednesday children pin small bags of ashes on the back of some unsuspecting person".[76]

text: Biblical significance of ashes[edit]

text: Ashes were used in ancient times to express grief. When Tamar was raped by her half-brother, "she sprinkled ashes on her head, tore her robe, and with her face buried in her hands went away crying" (2 Samuel 13:19). The gesture was also used to express sorrow for sins and faults. In Job 42:3–6, Job says to God: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." The prophet Jeremiah calls for repentance by saying: "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer 6:26). The prophet Daniel recounted pleading to God: "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3). Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: "That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes" (1 Maccabees 3:47; see also 4:39).

text: Examples of the practice among Jews are found in several other books of the Bible, including Numbers 19:9, 19:17, Jonah 3:6, Book of Esther 4:1, and Hebrews 9:13. Jesus is quoted as speaking of the practice in Matthew 11:21 and Luke 10:13: "If the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago (sitting) in sackcloth and ashes."

text: Christian use of ashes[edit]

text: Christians continued the practice of using ashes as an external sign of repentance. Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225) said that confession of sin should be accompanied by lying in sackcloth and ashes.[77] The historian Eusebius (c. 260/265 – 339/340) recounts how a repentant apostate covered himself with ashes when begging Pope Zephyrinus to readmit him to communion.[78]

text: John W. Fenton writes that "by the end of the 10th century, it was customary in Western Europe (but not yet in Rome) for all the faithful to receive ashes on the first day of the Lenten fast. In 1091, this custom was then ordered by Pope Urban II at the council of Benevento to be extended to the church in Rome. Not long after that, the name of the day was referred to in the liturgical books as "Feria Quarta Cinerum" (i.e., Ash Wednesday)."[79]

text: The public penance that grave sinners underwent before being admitted to Holy Communion just before Easter lasted throughout Lent, on the first day of which they were sprinkled with ashes and dressed in sackcloth. When, towards the end of the first millennium, the discipline of public penance was dropped, the beginning of Lent, seen as a general penitential season, was marked by sprinkling ashes on the heads of all.[80] This practice is found in the Gregorian Sacramentary of the late 8th century.[28][81] About two centuries later, Ælfric of Eynsham, an Anglo-Saxon abbot, wrote of the rite of strewing ashes on heads at the start of Lent.[30][82]

text: The article on Ash Wednesday in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica says that, after the Protestant Reformation, the ashes ceremony was not forbidden in the Church of England, a statement that may explain the research by Blair Meeks that the Anglican tradition "never lapsed in this observance".[83] It was even prescribed under King Henry VIII in 1538 and under King Edward VI in 1550, but it fell out of use in many areas after 1600.[67] In 1536, the Ten Articles issued by authority of Henry VIII commended "the observance of various rites and ceremonies as good and laudable, such as clerical vestments, sprinkling of holy water, bearing of candles on Candlemas-day, giving of ashes on Ash-Wednesday".[84] After Henry's death in January 1547, Thomas Cranmer, within the same year, "procured an order from the Council to forbid the carrying of candles on Candlemas-day, and the use of ashes on Ash-Wednesday, and of palms on Palm-Sunday, as superstitious ceremonies", an order that was issued only for the ecclesiastical province of Canterbury, of which Cranmer was archbishop.[85][86][87] The Church Cyclopædia states that the "English office had adapted the very old Salisbury service for Ash-Wednesday, prefacing it with an address and a recital of the curses of Mount Ebal, and then with an exhortation uses the older service very nearly as it stood."[71][88] The new Commination Office had no blessing of ashes and therefore, in England as a whole, "soon after the Reformation, the use of ashes was discontinued as a 'vain show' and Ash Wednesday then became only a day of marked solemnity, with a memorial of its original character in a reading of the curses denounced against impenitent sinners".[89] The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, in the 19th century, observed Ash Wednesday: "as a day of fasting and humiliation, wherein we are publicly to confess our sins, meekly to implore God's mercy and forgiveness, and humbly to intercede for the continuance of his favour".[90] In the 20th century, the Book of Common Prayer provided prayers for the imposition of ashes.[91]

text: Monte Canfield and Blair Meeks state that after the Protestant Reformation, Anglicans and Lutherans kept the rite of blessing and distributing ashes to the faithful on Ash Wednesday, and that the Protestant denominations that did not keep it encouraged its use "during and after the ecumenical era that resulted in the Vatican II proclamations".[83][92] Jack Kingsbury and Russell F. Anderson likewise state that the practice was continued among some Anglicans and Lutherans.[93][94] On the other hand, Edward Traill Horn wrote: "The ceremony of the distribution of the ashes was not retained by the reformers, whether Lutheran, Anglican or Reformed", although these denominations honored Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent.[95] Frank Senn, a liturgical scholar, has been quoted as saying: "How and why the use of ashes fell out of Lutheran use is difficult to discern from the sources… [C]hurch orders don't specifically say not to use ashes; they simply stopped giving direction for blessing and distributing them and eventually the pastors just stopped doing it."[96]

text: As part of the liturgical revival ushered in by the ecumenical movement, the practice was encouraged in Protestant churches,[92] including the Methodist Church.[97][98] It has also been adopted by Anabaptist and Reformed churches and some less liturgical denominations.[99]

text: The Eastern Orthodox churches generally do not observe Ash Wednesday,[100] although in recent times, the creation of the Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate has led to the observance of Ash Wednesday among Western Orthodox parishes.[79] In this tradition, ashes "may be distributed outside of the mass or any liturgical service" although "commonly the faithful receive their ashes immediately before the Ash Wednesday mass".[79] In Orthodoxy, historically, "serious public sinners in the East also donned sackcloth, including those who made the Great Fast a major theme of their entire lives such as hermits and desert-dwellers."[101] Byzantine Catholics, although in the United States use "the same Gregorian calendar as the Roman Catholic rite", do not practice the distribution of ashes as it is "not part of their ancient tradition".[102]

text: In the Ambrosian Rite, ashes are blessed and placed on the heads of the faithful not on the day that elsewhere is called Ash Wednesday, but at the end of Mass on the following Sunday, which in that rite inaugurates Lent, with the fast traditionally beginning on Monday, the first weekday of the Ambrosian Lent.[103][12][104][105]

text: Lent[edit]

text: Ash Wednesday marks the start of a 40-day period which is an allusion to the separation of Jesus in the desert to fast and pray. During this time he was tempted. Matthew 4:1–11, Mark 1:12–13, and Luke 4:1–13.[106] While not specifically instituted in the Bible text, the 40-day period of repentance is also analogous to the 40 days during which Moses repented and fasted in response to the making of the Golden calf.(Exo. 34:27–28) (Jews today follow a 40-day period of repenting in preparation for and during the High Holy Days from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Yom Kippur.)

text: Dates[edit]

text: Ash Wednesday is exactly 46 days before Easter Sunday, a moveable feast based on the cycles of the moon. The earliest date Ash Wednesday can occur is 4 February (which is only possible during a common year with Easter on 22 March), which happened in 1598, 1693, 1761 and 1818 and will next occur in 2285.[107] The latest date Ash Wednesday can occur is 10 March (when Easter Day falls on 25 April) which occurred in 1666, 1734, 1886 and 1943 and will next occur in 2038. Ash Wednesday has never occurred on Leap Year Day (29 February), and it will not occur as such until 2096. The only other years of the third millennium that will have Ash Wednesday on 29 February are 2468, 2688, 2840 and 2992. (Ash Wednesday falls on 29 February only if Easter is on 15 April in a leap year starting on a Sunday.)

text: Observing churches[edit]

text: These Christian Churches are among those that mark Ash Wednesday with a particular liturgy or service.

text:
African Methodist Episcopal Church[108]
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church[108]
Anglican Communion[109]

Church of England[110]
Church of North India[109][111]
Church of South India[109][112]
Episcopal Church (United States)[113]

Anglican Continuum[114]

Traditional Anglican Communion
Anglican Catholic Church

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)[115]
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church[116]
Some congregations of the Church of the Nazarene[117]
Community of Christ[118]
Ecclesia Gnostica[119]
Evangelical Covenant Church[120]
Independent Catholic denominations

Liberal Catholic Church[121]
Old Catholic Church[122]

Lutheran Churches[122]

Church of Sweden[123]

Some Mennonite congregations[124][125]
Methodist Church in Great Britain[126]
Metropolitan Community Churches[127]
Moravian Church[128][129]
Reformed churches (Presbyterian[130], United Church of Christ, etc.)
Roman Catholic Church[131]
United Church of Christ Congregations[132]
United Methodist Church[116]
Wesleyan Church[133]

tag: ul

text: The Eastern Orthodox Church does not, in general, observe Ash Wednesday; instead, Orthodox Great Lent begins on Clean Monday. There are, however, a relatively small number of Orthodox Christians who follow the Western Rite; these do observe Ash Wednesday, although often on a different day from the previously mentioned denominations, as its date is determined from the Orthodox calculation of Pascha, which may be as much as a month later than the Western observance of Easter.

text: National No Smoking Day[edit]

text: In the Republic of Ireland, Ash Wednesday is National No Smoking Day.[134][135] The date was chosen because quitting smoking ties in with giving up luxury for Lent.[136][137] In the United Kingdom No Smoking Day was held for the first time on Ash Wednesday 1984[138] but is now fixed as the second Wednesday in March.[139]

text: Notes[edit]

text: Jump up ^ Not all Catholics observe Ash Wednesday. Eastern Catholic Churches, who do not count Holy Week as part of Lent, begin the penitential season on Clean Monday, the Monday before Ash Wednesday, and Catholics who follow the Ambrosian Rite begin it on the First Sunday in Lent. Ashes are blessed and ceremonially distributed at the start of Lent throughout the Latin Church and in the Maronite Catholic Church and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. In the Ambrosian Rite, this is done at the end of the Sunday Mass or on the following day (see Il Sussidiario, Giorno delle Ceneri: Cos'è il rito delle Ceneri Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. & Sapere, Perché il Carnevale ambrosiano si festeggia in ritardo rispetto al resto d’Italia? Archived 24 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine.)