Palm Sunday (Dominica in
Palmis de passione Domini) is a Christian moveable
feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an
event mentioned in each of the four canonical
Gospels.
In many
Christian churches, Palm Sunday includes a procession of the assembled
worshipers carrying palms, representing the palm branches the crowd scattered
in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their
substitution with branches of native trees, including box, yew,
willow, and olive. The Sunday was
often designated by the names of these trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday.
However, in the Slavic territories, where palm trees
do not grow, and with spring comes the flowering willow branches, the palm
trees have replaced by the willow, which are beginning to turn green and
blossom, and thus the name of the holiday changed: willow Sunday.
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