Easter Customs And Traditions - Palm Sunday

Easter will be somewhat different to previous years because of the coronavirus pandemic, self-isolating and churches closed.

The church buildings might be closed but churches are finding other ways to meet together in their homes. If the virus had hit five years ago it would have been a different story as today churches are finding a variety of ways to stay connected via Social media.

Holy Week 2020 starts on Sunday 5 April and ends on Saturday 11 April the day before Easter Sunday on 12 April. Holy Week is also the last week of Lent.

The first day of Holy Week is Palm Sunday. This is the Sunday before Easter Day and the day Christians now celebrate Jesus riding into Jerusalem for the Passover.

It has been given the name of Palm Sunday because the people were pleased to see Jesus who they knew to be important. It was the custom in Roman times to welcome royalty by waving palm branches and often carpetting the streets with them.

Palm trees grew on the side of the road and the people took some branches and waved them in the air and shouted 'Hosanna' (which means 'God Saves' in Hebrew). They also put some of them on the road to make it easier for the donkey to walk on the rocky road.

The Passover festival dates from about 4,000 years ago when Jewish people remember that God saved them from slavery in Egypt. Jesus was a Jew and so celebrated the Passover. The Jewish calendar follows the cycle of the moon, so the date changes a bit every year.

Palm Sunday is sometimes called Passion Sunday as Holy Week reminds us of Jesus' passion or death.

It is the custom in churches all over the world to give out small crosses made from palm leaves on Palm Sunday as a reminder of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his death on the cross. The crosses are usually made from folded strips of dried palm leaves.