Valentine’s Day falls on Ash Wednesday this week, a rare occurrence that has prompted Catholics to ponder the best way to observe them both.

Valentine’s Day is known for indulging in candy. Ash Wednesday is known for giving it up. What gives?

Many people give up candy for Lent, but Valentine’s Day is the biggest chocolate gift-giving day of the year.

Before 2018, the two holidays hadn’t fallen on the same day since 1945. This year, Catholic bishops around the country have issued recommendations to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day a day early, on Mardi Gras.

Ash Wednesday is a holy day of obligation and required fasting in the Catholic Church, which is the reason Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is a day known for partying. It’s the last day of indulgence before the start of Lent, a time of spiritual preparation for Easter.

The word Carnival comes from the Latin words Carne Vale, which means “Farewell to Meat.” So, the Mardi Gras Carnival is the celebration of a traditional seasonal goodbye to gluttony.

“New Orleans and Mobile were at one time part of France, so they brought the culture with them,” said the Rev. Doug Vu, pastor of Our Lady of La Vang Catholic Church in Birmingham.

“Traditionally people cleaned out everything they don’t want to eat during the 40 days of Lent on Fat Tuesday,” Vu said. “It’s a festival in the spirit of celebration.”

The calculation of Easter depends on the moving Jewish festival of Passover, and Ash Wednesday begins Lent 40 days plus Sundays before Easter. This year Easter falls on March 31.

“Forty days for Lent is based the 40 days the Lord went to the desert to pray before he began his public ministry,” Vu said.

Valentine’s Day, which is always Feb. 14, is the feast day of St. Valentine, the patron saint of love.

“He had a heart for young people,” Vu said. “He wished for them to have a holy relationship and happy marriage. He’s a patron saint of happy marriage.”

Valentine’s Day is a time for celebrating love, often by eating out and giving candy.

The Catholic Diocese of Birmingham recommends celebrating Valentine’s Day early, on Fat Tuesday.

“Go out and have a good time on Fat Tuesday,” Vu said. ‘A happy couple celebrates their Valentine 365 days a year. They don’t celebrate once a year.”

St. Valentine was a priest in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II, according to Christian tradition.

Claudius was having difficulty enlisting enough soldiers for his army, which he attributed to men being reluctant to leave their wives and families. Claudius banned marriages and engagements. Valentine defied the edict and continued to perform marriages. He was executed on Feb. 14, in about 269 A.D., according to church tradition.

Liturgical fasting during Lent emphasizes eating plainer food and refraining from “pleasurable” foods such as meat, dairy and eggs. Many people “give something up” during Lent as a way to prepare for Easter.

Many times people give up candy as a spiritual discipline during Lent.

“Out of love for Jesus they could give up something,” Vu said. “Give it up out of love, don’t give it up out of obligation.”

Married couples giving each other a box of chocolate on Ash Wednesday is not against the spirit of Lent, Vu said. Nor is candy forbidden during Lent, but it is one luxury item often given up.

“We fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and give up meat every Friday during Lent,” Vu said. “The average person eats three meals a day. To fast, eat one full meal before you go to work, then the other two meals just eat something so they have enough nutrition, maybe half of what they normally eat.”

To keep the spirit of Ash Wednesday and Lent, make a simple sacrifice, Vu suggests.

“The spirit of love is better than the letter of the law,” he said.

Like Valentine’s Day, the spirit of Lent should be about love, Vu said. “It should be, I give up because I love Jesus,” Vu said. “I give up because I want the world to be a better place to live. I give up because I want an end to the war in Ukraine.