Culture

Palm Sunday: a Moveable Feast

by Jordan Yerman | April 5, 2009 at 08:42 am

309 views | 47 Recommendations | 5 comments

Today is Palm Sunday, which celebrates Jesus Christ's return to Jerusalem, with palm fronds symbolizing the smoothing of a path for someone held in high regard.

Palm Sunday is a moveable feast, which means that it's not observed on the same calendar day every year; in this case, it's observed on the Sunday before Easter. More background on Palm Sunday here.

Palm Sunday is also a big day for craftspeople, who weave palm fleaves (or similar leaves when palm is hard to come by) into crosses, flowers and the like.

Pope Benedict's thoughts on Palm Sunday were for the thousands of illegal immigrants who every year attempt a perilous journey from Africa to Europe in search of a better life.

During the Angelus prayer, he recalled Africans who just days ago lost their life in the Mediterranean. "We cannot resign ourselves to such tragedies," he said, "which unfortunately, have been taking place for some time."

Every spring, Torres puts in an order for thousands of the fronds, which are harvested from palms in the Yucatan Peninsula. They arrive at the downtown Los Angeles flower market by way of Miami and he transports them, bundle by thick bundle, to his flower shop.

The fronds are long, ribbon-like and flexible; easy to pull apart, thread and fold into spectacular designs. The process takes up to two weeks, and then Torres -- like fellow artisans elsewhere in Southern California Latino communities -- delivers the finished products to a nearby parish.

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Pythiian1

at 09:47 on April 5th, 2009

I've always loved Palm Sunday seeing some people around town with their various palm fronds, or some with woven ones. It's also means, Easter is coming.

Another holiday that occasionally coincides with Easter is Passover (Pesach)....

danesller0127

at 09:46 on April 5th, 2009

This is the beggining of Christian Holy Week or Passion Week ....in- between the week of Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday in which the people commemorates Jesus Christ "The Savior."

Jesus enters Jerusalem riding a donkey rather than a horse... which signifies of peace. "Great crowds of people waving palms branches to welcome Him... the people shouted! "Hossana".

Thanks Jordan for the great story... :D

Roy C

at 09:52 on April 5th, 2009

Palm Sunday's palms, dried and burnt, become the ashes of Ash Wednesday. A very good reminder of our mortality.

I was taught that Palm Sunday actually happened in Jerusalem, but experts today have their doubts. It appears that Palm Sunday is actually a Roman pagan feast that got adopted into the Jewish-Christian practice.

jazzyzazzy

at 16:31 on April 6th, 2009

I used to love to make the palm crosses,as a child we would sit and make them in our garden with neighbours and family. they say the most simple pleasures in life are free.

shutterblogger

at 20:38 on April 8th, 2009

I have always loved the sight of woven palm fronds being waved as priests (and sometimes even lay ministers if the church is too large) walk through the crowd, blessing the palms, amidst shouts of "Hosanna!" and "Hallelujah!"--never fails to give me goosebumps.

shutterblogger has contributed a photo to this story.