PALM SUNDAY
13th April 2025 (Christian)
9th April 2025 (Christian Orthodox)
Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent and the first day of Holy Week, when Christians remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where, later, he would be arrested and crucified. Many churches commemorate the day by processions, with the congregation carrying symbolic palm leaves (folded in the form of a cross) or branches of palm trees.
Five days before the Passover, Jesus came from Bethany to Jerusalem. Having sent two of His disciples to bring him a colt of a donkey, he sat upon it and entered the city. The gospels record his arrival, riding into the city on a donkey, while the crowds spread their cloaks and palm branches on the street and shouted ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ and ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’ to honour him as their long-awaited Messiah and King.
During Palm Sunday services, palms are distributed to parishioners who carry them in a ritual procession into church. The palms are blessed and many people fashion them into small crosses or other items of personal devotion. These may be returned to the church, or kept for the year. Because the palms have been blessed, they may not be discarded as trash. In many cases they are collected at the church and incinerated to create the ashes that will be used in the following year’s Ash Wednesday observance.
The celebration of Palm Sunday originated in the Jerusalem Church, around the late fourth century. The ceremony consisted of prayers, hymns, and sermons recited by the clergy while the people walked to various holy sites throughout the city. At the final site, the place where Jesus ascended into heaven, the clergy read from the gospels concerning the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. In the early evening they returned to the city reciting: ‘Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.’ The children carried palm and olive branches as the people returned through the city back to the church, where they would hold evening services.
By the fifth century, the Palm Sunday celebration had spread as far as Constantinople. Changes made in the sixth and seventh centuries resulted in two new Palm Sunday traditions – the ritual blessing of the palms, and a morning procession instead of an evening one. Adopted by the Western Church in the eighth century, the celebration received the name ‘Dominica in Palmis,’ or ‘Palm Sunday’.
Today, Palm Sunday traditions in Roman Catholic churches are much the same as they have been since the tenth century. The ceremony begins with the blessing of the palms. The procession follows, then Mass is celebrated, and the Passion and the Benediction are sung. Afterwards, many people take the palms home and place them in houses, barns, and fields. The colours of the Mass on Palm Sunday are red and white, symbolizing the redemption in blood that Jesus paid for the world.
In Orthodox churches Palm Sunday is celebrated with the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, which is preceded by the Matins service. A Great Vespers is conducted on the preceding Saturday evening, according to the order prescribed in the Triodion. On this Sunday a basket containing the woven palm crosses is placed on a table in front of the icon of the Lord. The palms are then distributed to the faithful, as a blessing upon those who hold the palms in their hands.
In the simplest of terms, Palm Sunday is an occasion for reflecting on the final week of Jesus’ life. It is a time for Christians to prepare their hearts for the agony of His Passion and the joy of His Resurrection.
Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, John 12:12-19.