Today is Palm Sunday — the Sunday before Easter, and the final day of Lent. The day marks the occasion when Jesus rode on a donkey and entered Jerusalem. The name stems from the fact that people in Jerusalem threw palm leaves on the floor to greet Jesus. It is also sometimes called Branch Sunday or Passion Sunday.
On Palm Sunday, palm leaves are blessed and then collected and burned into ash — to be used on Ash Wednesday the following year.
Palm leaves are considered to be a symbol of goodness and victory. The liturgical color for Palm Sunday is red.
Jesus arriving in Jerusalem on a donkey fulfilled a prophecy from the Old Testament about the Messiah, the savior of Israel. In the times of Jesus, it was common for kings or important people to arrive by a procession riding on a donkey. The donkey is a symbol of peace so riding one showed the person had peaceful intentions.
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, also known as Passion Week.
Some/many churches celebrate today with reenactments of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Catholic churches bless palm branches with holy water and distribute them to congregants. Various places in the world have their own interesting traditions related to Palm Sunday. In Latvia, Palm Sunday is called “Pussy Willow Sunday” because pussy willows, rather than palms are used and children are traditionally awoken with a swipe of a willow. In the Netherlands, celebrants decorate crosses with candy and bread in the shape of a rooster. In Poland, competitions for the largest or most beautiful palm branches are common.
But no matter how how you observe it, Palm Sunday is one of the most important days in the Christian calendar. Pope Benedict XVI said that Palm Sunday tells us that… it is the cross that is the true tree of life.
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