Palm Sunday

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Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter Day and is observed widely throughout the Christian Church. It originates from the story of Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem on a donkey just a few days before his Passion, when the people laid cloaks and the branches of trees on the path before him (It was a common custom at that time to strew the path of someone of high rank in this way).

Accounts in the gospels vary, but John's gospel specifically mentions the use of palm fronds. However, the difficulty of finding palms in many countries has resulted in the substitution of boughs of yew, willow or other native trees in some places, and this is why the day is sometimes known as Yew Sunday or Branch Sunday.

The palms or substitute greenery are blessed before distribution to the congregation. In some denominations they are handed back afterwards and later burnt, the ashes being used in Ash Wednesday services. In others children take them home to their parents.

Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week in Orthodox churches.