How is Palm Sunday celebrated? Traditions of Palm Sunday

The ancient Romans viewed the palm branch as a symbol of victory. The early Christians borrowed this symbolism from the Romans. However, they put their stamp on it, using the palm branch not only as an emblem of victory but also of martyrdom. Since ancient times, Palm Sunday church services have included Bible readings telling the story of the Passion. This story tells what happened to Jesus in Jerusalem.

The branch of the palm represented both the joy and the triumph of the occasion and thus became a symbol of the holiday. In many churches, palm branches or crosses woven from palm branches are blessed and distributed to worshipers. Roman Catholic and episcopal churches keep the remainder of the blessed palms until Ash Wednesday of the following year, when they are burned to make ashes that the clergy smear on the foreheads of those attending services in Ash Street.

The liturgical color for Palm Sunday is red, signifying martyrdom, love and suffering. This shows that the palm procession is the oldest custom associated with the day. According to Egeria, a late fourth-century pilgrim to the Holy Land, Jerusalem Christians celebrated Palm Sunday with a procession leading from the Mount of Olives into the city. Then the bishop representing Jesus led them down the hill into the city. Egeria notes that many in the crowd carried palm or olive branches.

They suspect that when Christians from these cities made pilgrimages to the Holy Land, they introduced these rituals to the Jerusalem community, which subsequently adopted them. The most striking element of these early rites was the palm procession. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Palm Sunday procession spread to Western Europe. The procession, as well as the ceremonial blessing of palm branches at the altar, appeared in Spain some time between the fifth and seventh centuries. Similar rites were probably adopted in Rome around the eighth century.

How to celebrate Palm Sunday and signs of the day

As the palm procession spread throughout Europe, people modified it to suit the local landscape. Typically the processions originated from some holy place, such as a church or shrine near the city, and led to the city's cathedral or main church. In some places, especially in France and England, the clergy wore Holy Communion or the Eucharist, at the head of the procession. In other areas, Palmesel or Palmristris paved the way. These wooden statues, depicting Jesus mounted on a donkey, can be traced back to the tenth century and were especially popular in Germany.

The fast people watching these processions often took active roles, scattering branches, clothes, carpets or flowers along the parade route. In Biberbach, Germany, before the Protestant Reformation, members of the choir repeated the actions of Jesus' early followers, who threw their cloaks on the ground for him to move on, removing their fertilizer and throwing it into Palmesel's path.

Orthodox Christians also celebrate Palm Sunday with processions. Orthodoxy is one of the three main branches of the Christian faith. It developed in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. In Constantinople, the capital of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire, palm processions can be traced back to the ninth or tenth centuries. By the evening of the previous day, the Saturday of Lazarus, people had strewn the parade route with palms, myrtles and laurel branches, as well as flowers. The pillars that lined the route were all equally decorated.

Palm Sunday - traditions

In many Western European countries, these elaborate Palm Sunday processions dwindled and dwindled after the Reformation, the sixteenth-century religious movement that gave birth to Protestant Christianity. In many regions they have become short parades around the cemetery or even shorter processions inside the church itself. Like many cemeteries that have been sited in past eras, these processions provided a special opportunity for the congregation to pray alongside the graves of the departed. Today, although cemeteries are often located far from home and church, the custom of visiting family graves on Palm Sunday continues in England, France, Belgium and the United States.

How Palm Sunday is celebrated - the history of the holiday

In addition to the palm procession, the blessing of the palms is another distinctive feature Palm Sunday religious services. This ceremony dates back to the sixth century. By the late Middle Ages it had become a long and detailed ritual. During this era, blessed palms not only represented Jesus' "triumphant invasion of Jerusalem" but also came to be seen as objects offering protection from the devil. In England, palm crosses were once sold as cures for illnesses.

This decision reflects the desire of church officials to pay more attention to history last days in the life of Jesus than by the blessing of the palms. Indeed, this story, referred to as the story of the passion, is read or baked during Palm Sunday Services in Roman Catholic churches, as well as those Protestant churches that have retained elements of the Roman Catholic tradition in their services. If the passion story is to be sung, old liturgical tradition recommends that the narrator's part be assigned to someone with a tenor voice, Jesus' part in a bass voice, and the remaining parts in alto voices.

However, most other folk names refer to the plants used to celebrate the festival. Because palm trees do not grow in cold northern climates, many northern Europeans had to adapt their Palm Sunday customs to suit the climate and vegetation of their land. The Italians replaced olive branches for palm fronds and Irish yew trees. In Russia, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and the British worshiped communication with willow branches. Indeed, in Russia, the use of willow branches inspired people to call the festival "Will Sunday".

The Spanish call the day Domingo de Ramos, or "Tuesday on Sunday", "in reference to the use of green branches as a religious symbol". The name recalls the old custom of blessing flowers as well as palm branches, in addition to the custom of intertwining flowers among the leaves of blessed palm branches. It was Palm Sunday, so he named the lush green land "Florida" in honor of the day and in recognition of the land's fertility.

Christians in Jerusalem still observe Palm Sunday with the procession from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, retracing the route Jesus would have taken to enter the city. Researchers believe that Jesus entered the city through the old Zusan gate, which the Romans destroyed in 70 AD. Another gate, called the Golden Gate, replaced it. However, in the ninth century, the Muslim rulers of Jerusalem unified the Golden Gate to protect the city from invaders. Despite the difficulties in reconstructing Jesus' original route, thousands of pilgrims from all over the world come to Jerusalem every year to take part in this endeavor.

Palm Sunday - traditions

IN last years Christian Palestinian children had the honor of leading the believers in Jerusalem. From the Mount of Olives, passes the Garden of Gethsemane and crosses the Kidron Valley before entering the Old City. In many Spanish towns and villages, people celebrate the day with special religious processions. These parades often force children to carry palm branches. Some processions have large floats called pasos, which depict scenes from the last days of Jesus' life, depicted using vital wooden statues.

Teams of men, and sometimes women, carry these floats, which can weigh more than two tons. Palm Sunday in Austria, Germany and the first. Yugoslavia. In Austria, palm branches are blessed in church services and distributed among the congregation. One old custom encouraged Austrian farmers to pass this blessing on to their homesteads, singing and praying as they walked through their buildings and fields, leaving a sprig of the blessed palm at each place. According to Austrian folklore, the twigs provide protection against disease and bad weather.

Another old custom taught children to decorate palm branches with pretzels and carry them through the streets in honor of the day. In Germany's Black Forest region, people decorated pillars with pussy willows, leaves, streamers, hearts and crosses and carried them to the church to be blessed. Poles studded with sparkling glass beads were also brought for blessing. Later, farmers installed these poles in their fields as a means of protecting and blessing their crops. In some areas of Germany, Palmesel can still be found in the Palm Sunday procession to church.

Beliefs on Palm Sunday

Blessed willow or palm branches are brought home and used for decoration. German folklore teaches that branches can convey blessings to a home. In some areas, branches from these branches were once planted in gardens in hopes of protecting them from lightning.

In the former Yugoslavia, willow branches are blessed in church services. Old folk customs encouraged parishioners to bring the blessed willows home with them and display them in their fields as a means of bringing blessings to them. Branches may subsequently appear above doors and sheds. Another set of old ones folk traditions advised young women to add freshly picked flowers to their baths. This flower bath on Palm Sunday was supposed to help them maintain their beauty throughout the year.

In addition, girls were taught to sow flax and flower seeds on this day, while boys cut green branches to make garlands and crowned their girlfriends with willow wreaths. Mexicans call Palm Sunday Domingo de las Palmas, or "Palm Sunday." Many people gather large bunches of palms, flowers and bays together to bring them to church. Subsequently, they bring these bouquets home with them. Mexican folklore teaches that blessed flowers on Sunday can ward off illness.

In northern Greece Orthodox priests Laurel and myrtle branches are blessed during religious services on Palm Sunday. Laurel or bay, branches are an ancient Greek emblem of triumph. In addition, parishioners shape palm leaves into baskets, crosses, stars and crescents. The priest also blesses them and gives them to everyone who attends the service. People take them home and place them next to their icons, religious images used in prayer and worship. Strict Lenten fast, practiced by Orthodox Christians, may be slightly toned down in honor of the day to include fish.