Interesting facts about Palm Sunday.
Introduction
The most solemn week of the Christian year, Holy Week is the week leading up to Easter, and is the week during which Christians particularly remember the last week of Jesus’s life. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday
It is the Sunday before Easter. Palm Sunday commemorates Christ’s triumphant arrival in Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd. Palm branches were strewn before him: now also called Passion Sunday or Second Sunday of the Passion. The scene of the crowd greeting Jesus by waving palms and carpeting his path with them became symbolic and important.
Today, churches commemorate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem by passing out palm leaves on Palm Sunday. Later, the palm leaves are returned to the church, burnt, and the ashes used for Ash Wednesday services. Alternatively, the palm leaves are folded into religions symbols such as crosses and a crown of thorns.
The palm branches give Palm Sunday its name, but the celebration, however, is not a victory parade. Palm Sunday is also Passion Sunday, reminding us of Jesus’ journey to his death. It is a time for reflecting on Jesus’ mission and focusing on the events that led to his crucifixion. Only John’s Gospel specifies the day of the week of this event. The Church has followed this chronology by observing Palm Sunday as a commemoration of the entry of Christ into Jerusalem and the beginning of Holy Week.
Palm Sunday Procession
Palm branches were provided to members of the church worship team and congregation who will participate in the procession. Participants may wear costumes to provide an authentic air to the procession. Spread the participants with palm branches out along the processional path.
Have the participants begin waving palm branches and calling out “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” when “Jesus” comes riding in. As he comes near a participant, have that person place the palm branch on the ground in front of where he will ride so that Jesus crosses over the mat of palm branches.
Altar Decorations
Palm branches may be laid on the altar with a Bible, a pitcher of wine and a matzah. The palm branch and Bible should be placed on the altar beginning on Palm Sunday and stay until Easter Sunday. The wine and matzah are added on Maundy Thursday as the Last Supper is portrayed. Remove the wine and bread at the end of the service and replace with a wooden cross and a crown of thorns on Friday. Sunday morning, an empty tomb model sits atop the palm branches.
The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem,
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”
John 12:12-13
Later in that week many of the people in that cheering crowd would be among those shouting that Jesus should be executed.
Symbolism
Christian clergy will often use the Palm Sunday story to help people think about the strength of their own commitment to their faith. They may ask believers to think about times that they have been unfaithful to Christ, or been hypocritical in proclaiming their support.
Church services
In many churches, during Palm Sunday services, large palm branches are carried in processions.
In Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, members of the congregation hold small crosses made of palm leaf, both to remember the palm leaves which the people of Jerusalem waved when Jesus arrived, and to remember the cross on which he died.
Some Christians display the crosses from that service in their homes during the year as a symbol of their faith. The crosses are burned at the start of Lent the next year to provide the ash for Ash Wednesday.
Why Palm branches are used
Palms are sacramentals of the Church distributed to the faithful on Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) — the day that commemorates Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. Their purpose is to honour Christ’s glory and Kingship, as did the inhabitants of Jerusalem who met Him, strewing palm branches on the street before Him.
Carrying palms (or olive or willow branches, etc., if palms aren’t available) in procession goes way back into the Old Testament, where it was not only approved but commanded by God at the very foundation of the Old Testament religion. In the fall of the year, after the harvest, when the people gathered for the Feast of Tabernacles God said in Leviticus 23:40:
And you shall take to you on the first day the fruits of the fairest tree, and branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook: And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God.
Again we read of palms in the II Machabees 10:6-8:
And they kept eight days with joy, after the manner of the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long before they had kept the feast of the tabernacles when they were in the mountains, and in dens like wild beasts. Therefore they now carried boughs and green branches and palms, for him that had given them good success in cleansing his place. And they ordained by a common statute, and decree, that all the nation of the Jews should keep those days every year.
And in the 7th chapter of the Apocalypse, we see that those who were “sealed” are seen by John carrying palms:
Apocalypse 7:9-10:
After this, I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice, saying: Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb.
The palms are blessed before the High Mass on Palm Sunday. Vested in red cope and standing at the Epistle side of the Altar, the priest recites a short prayer, and then reads a lesson from the book of Exodus which tells of the children of Israel coming to Elim on their way to the Promised Land, where they found a fountain and seventy palm trees. It was at Elim that God sent them manna.
After a few verses from the New Testament, the priest reads the story of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem the Sunday before His death, and about how the people put palms in the Savior’s path and sang hosannas because, ironically, they expected a temporal victory by the One they thought would be the great military leader who would conquer the Romans..
Then we pray, begging God that we may in the end go meet Christ, that we may enter with Him into the eternal Jerusalem. The following preface and prayers ask God to bless the palms, that they may be sanctified and may be a means of grace and divine protection to those who carry them and treasure them with faith.
The palms are distributed to the people at the Communion rail. The priest will press the palm against your lips so you can kiss it, and then his hand. Alternatively, the palms may be handed out by the altar boys. In any case, Scripture and prayers follow, and then a procession of clergy, servers, and people through the church or outside around the church.
Some of these same palm branches are saved and burned the next year to make the ashes for the next Ash Wednesday — the palms, which symbolize triumph, and the ashes, which sympbolize death and penitence, forming a great symbolic connection between suffering and victory.
The branches given to the faithful are held in the hand at the singing or reading of the Passion and the Gospel during the Mass, but when Mass is finished we take them home and hang them over crucifixes or holy pictures. Men will sometimes wear a piece of it in their hats or pin it to their lapels, and a piece should also be placed with one’s sick call set.
It is custom to break off a piece of the palm and — while praying to St. Barbara (or St. Walburga) for her intercession, and lighting a blessed candle (especially one blessed at Candlemas) — burn it for protection against storms. I offer this prayer against storms from the Pieta prayerbook (make the Sign of the Cross at each + sign):
Jesus Christ a King of Glory has come in Peace.+ God became man, + and the Word was made flesh.+ Christ was born of a Virgin.+ Christ suffered.+ Christ was crucified.+ Christ died.+ Christ rose from the dead.+ Christ ascended into Heaven.+ Christ conquers.+ Christ reigns.+ Christ commands.+
May Christ protect us from all storms and lightning. + Christ went through their midst in Peace, + and the Word was made Flesh.+ Christ is with us with Mary.+ Flee you enemy spirits because the Lion of the Generation of Juda, the Root David, has won.+ Holy God! + Holy Powerful God! + Holy Immortal God! + Have mercy on us. Amen.
Another custom is to shape the palm into Latin Crosses 1 before hanging them (for instructions, see the Palm Sunday page).
The next year, when we get new palms, the old palms are burned and their ashes buried.
Maundy Thursday
Jesus washed the feet of his disciples ©
Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter. Christians remember it as the day of the Last Supper, when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and established the ceremony known as the Eucharist.
The night of Maundy Thursday is the night on which Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The word maundy comes from the command (mandate) given by Christ at the Last Supper, that we should love one another.
In Roman Catholic churches the anthem Mandatum novum do vobis (a new commandment I give to you) would be sung on Maundy Thursday.
In many other countries this day is known as Holy Thursday.
Maundy Thursday ceremonies
In Britain, the sovereign takes part in the Ceremony of the Royal Maundy.
Maundy coins ©
This ceremony, held at a great cathedral, involves the distribution of Maundy money to deserving senior citizens (one man and one woman for each year of the sovereign’s age), usually chosen for having done service to their community.
They receive ceremonial red and white purses which contain coins made especially for the occasion. The white purse contains one coin for each year of the monarch’s reign.
The red purse contains money in place of other gifts that used to be given to the poor.
In the 17th century, and earlier, the King or Queen would wash the feet of the selected poor people as a gesture of humility, and in remembrance of Jesus’ washing the feet of the disciples. The last monarch to do this was James 2. The ceremony of the monarch giving money to the poor on this day dates back to Edward 1.
Pedilavium: the washing of the feet
Roman Catholic church services feature a ceremony in which the priest washes the feet of 12 people to commemorate Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples.
It was common in monasteries throughout history for the Abbot to wash the feet of the monks in a similar gesture.
Some other churches nowadays also have foot-washing ceremonies as part of their Maundy Thursday services.
The consecration of holy oil
In Roman Catholic churches, Maundy Thursday is usually the day on which the supply of anointing oil to be used in ceremonies during the year is consecrated.
This is done at a special Chrism Mass.
Good Friday
Good Friday commemorates Jesus’ crucifixion ©
The most important events in Christianity are the death and later resurrection of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God, and whose life and teachings are the foundation of Christianity.
Good Friday is the Friday before Easter. It commemorates the Passion: the execution of Jesus by crucifixion.
Good Friday is a day of mourning in church. During special Good Friday services Christians meditate on Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, and what this means for their faith.
In some countries, there are special Good Friday processions, or re-enactments of the Crucifixion.
The main service on Good Friday takes place between midday and 3pm. In many churches it takes the form of a meditation based on the seven last words of Jesus on the cross, with hymns, prayers, and short sermons.
The last words from the cross
The Bible quotes seven last sentences that Jesus spoke from the Cross.
Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.
Luke 23:34
Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.
Luke 23:43
Woman, here is your son… Here is your mother
John 19:26
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani? (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?)
Mark 15:34
I am thirsty
John 19:28
It is finished
John 19:30
Father, into your hands I commend my spirit
Luke 23:46
The seven last words have inspired a number of composers, including Schutz, Haydn, Dubois, and James MacMillan.
Holy Saturday
Around a charcoal burner ©
Holy Saturday is the Saturday after Good Friday which is often, but wrongly, called Easter Saturday.
Easter vigil service
The Easter vigil service is the first Easter service, and takes place on the night of Holy Saturday.
The idea behind the service is for faithful Christians to wait and watch, hopeful and confident that Christ will return at midnight.
The Easter, or Paschal, candle is lit during this service. The service traditionally begins outside the church, where minister and some worshippers gather around a fire – a charcoal brazier is common.
The service begins with words like these:
Brothers and sisters in Christ, on this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus Christ passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer.
For this is the Passover of the Lord, in which through word and sacrament we share in his victory over death.
Traditional Easter vigil liturgy
After readings and prayers, the Paschal candle is lit from the fire using a taper, while a prayer like the one below is said.
May the light of Christ, rising in glory, banish all darkness from our hearts and minds.
Traditional Easter vigil prayer
The lit candle is now a symbol of Christ, risen as the light of the world, and come into the midst of the people.
After being lit outside, the candle is carried into the church, where most of the worshippers are waiting in darkness, which symbolises the darkness of Christ’s tomb.
After more prayers and readings, the candles held by the congregation are lit from the Paschal candle.
The symbolism of the candle is made very clear by words such as…
Grant that this Easter candle make our darkness light; for Christ the morning star has risen, never again to set, and is alive and reigns for ever and ever.
Traditional Easter vigil service
The readings at the service tell of the creation of humanity, how humanity fell from grace, and was repeatedly rescued by God. The readings remind people of God’s promise to be with them always.
The Paschal candle
Paschal candle ©
The Paschal candle is made of pure white wax and is marked with a cross, an Alpha, and an Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The 4 numbers of the year are marked between the arms. This symbolises that Christ has been, is now and always will be with humanity.
Paschal candles are usually large, and can cost over £100. For much of the year many churches stand the paschal candle near the font used for baptisms. Here it provides a reminder that baptism is a symbolic death and rebirth with Christ; just like Christ’s death and Resurrection.
Holy Saturday is followed by Easter Sunday.