Ash Wednesday 2021: Sprinkling ash on top of head still advised – IATF exec

(FILE PHOTO) Catholic faithful wearing masks as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus, queue up as a nun (R) sprinkles ash on their heads during Ash Wednesday at a church compound in Manila on February 26, 2020. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP FILE)

MANILA, Philippines — It seems that sprinkling ash on top of a devout’s head would still be the way to go in this year’s Ash Wednesday instead of the usual marking of the cross on the forehead.

Cabinet Secretary and Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) co-chairperson Karlo Nograles said Wednesday that the government may have to still go for the safer way to observe Ash Wednesday this year as threats of Covid-19 infection persists.

“Siguro doon sa Ash Wednesday, kung ano ‘yung ginagawa natin noon, hopefully, tingin ko ‘yun pa rin ‘yung magiging protocols ngayon,” he said in an interview over PTV.

(Maybe this coming Ash Wednesday we will still do what we did before, hopefully, I think the protocols will remain the same.)

“Maalala ko last year nung Ash Wednesday, iniwasan nila ‘yung pagpahid at ginawa na lang sprinkling of the ash,” he added.

(During last year’s Ash Wednesday, they veered away from placing the ash on the forehead and instead sprinkled the ash on the top of the head.)

In 2020, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines recommended sprinkling ash on top of the head as a precaution against Covid-19.

Catholics will observe Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of the season of Lent, on February 17.

KGA