By Desiree Salas (media@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Feb 17, 2015 10:04 PM EST

This week is packed with three significant holidays, starting with Mardi Gras on Tuesday, followed by Ash Wednesday, and the Lunar New Year on Thursday.

As the start of Lent happens to coincide with the Chinese New Year, it appears Asian Catholics are in a pickle. That's because celebrations for the start of the lunar calendar begins on the evening of Ash Wednesday - a day of fasting and abstinence from eating meat, among other things.

Fortunately, a number of dioceses where Asian Catholics are abundant have taken this dilemma in consideration and given a dispensation for such a rare coincidence.

"Many bishops in East Asia are granting dispensations from the fasting and abstinence normally required on the day that begins the season of Lent," National Catholic Register reported.

"In view of the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year, its cultural and spiritual importance and the traditional practices associated with it, we therefore grant dispensation from the obligation of fasting and abstinence to our Chinese-Filipino and Chinese Catholics in the Archdiocese of Manila from the afternoon of Feb. 18, 2015, until midnight," read Cardinal Luis Tagle's letter for the Archdiocese of Manila in the Philippines.

"Those availing of the dispensation must engage in some other forms of penance, acts of mercy and charity, especially to the poor and those who suffer, in keeping with the penitential spirit of the season of Lent," it went on to say.

"Similarly, the bishops' conferences of Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei and Southeast Asia have also said that the fasting and abstinence of Ash Wednesday can take place either on the day itself or on another day to be decided on by the individual. Masses with the imposition of ashes will still be said on Ash Wednesday," the publication said.

Meanwhile, Metro Vancouver's Archbishop Michael Miller was reported by The Vancouver Sun as also giving the faithful in his area a similar privilege. However, this comes with the condition that "anyone who makes use of the Ash Wednesday dispensation must observe a different day of fast and abstinence on some other day at the beginning of Lent," according to Paul Schratz, the archdiocese's communications director.

The Lunar New Year, to many Asians, is what Thanksgiving is to Americans. It's a time when many "seize the holiday to return home to be with family." In fact, the mass "exodus" that happens during the said holiday, partucularly in mainland China, has been chronicled annually.

"The world's biggest human migration is now underway as millions of Chinese return home for the lunar new year. And its in major cities like Beijing where the impact of this can truly be seen," CCTV America reported. "Many shops, restaurants and businesses are now closed as making money takes a back-seat in China, for at least the next week."

WATCH:

© 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.