Ash Wednesday will arrive with COVID-19 precautions Priests won't actually place the ashes on people's foreheads. Instead they will follow a European custom of sprinkling the ashes on the crown of a person's head. Author: WGRZ Staff Updated: 6:40 PM EST February 14, 2021 BUFFALO, N.Y. — Ash Wednesday will look quite a bit different this year for Western New York during the coronavirus pandemic. Ash Wednesday is this week, and COVID-19 precautions mean priests won't actually place the ashes on people's foreheads. Instead they will follow a European custom of sprinkling the ashes on the crown of a person's head. The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo put out a video to explain to parishioners how it will work.