Next: 21 Mar 2027
Palm Sunday
Palms, olive branches, pussy willow and tall bouquets of dried flowers are blessed a week before Easter.
What happens
Palm Sunday recalls the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, when crowds laid branches in his path. Churches bless whatever green the country offers. In Spain and the Philippines it is woven palm leaves, in Italy olive branches, and in northern and eastern Europe twigs of pussy willow. Poland and Lithuania make Easter palms, tall rods bound with dried flowers, grasses and coloured paper, and some villages compete for the tallest. The blessed branch is taken home and kept for the year.
The flowers
Original text by the Phool desk, written with AI assistance. Background: "Palm Sunday" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Palm Sunday: Pietro Lorenzetti, Public domain, source
- Palm branch: Einsamer Schütze, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Easter palm: Evaldas Liutkus, CC BY 2.0, source
- Pussy willow: Bernie, Public domain, source
- Olive: E4024, CC BY-SA 4.0, source