COVID-19 Affects Ash Wednesday Tradition
Feb 18, 2021, 8:19 AM | Updated: 8:20 am
DRAPER, Utah – COVID-19 forced an Ash Wednesday tradition to be changed this year.
Usually, Roman Catholic priests used blessed palm ashes to rub a cross on the forehead of believers.
To avoid a Catholic priest touching multiple people's foreheads amid the COVID-19 pandemic this #AshWednesday, ashes will be distributed by being sprinkled atop the crown of Utah parishioners' heads — a tradition customary in Rome. https://t.co/UKshDzIdJr
— KSL (@KSLcom) February 17, 2021
KSL visited Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Draper, where the priest sprinkled the ashes over the heads of parishioners as recommended in new guidelines issued by the Vatican last month.
They were designed to limit person-to-person contact.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which is a season of fasting and prayer. It ends on the night before Easter Sunday.