Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday (Lat. Dominica Palmarum, or Dom. in or ad Palmas), the Sunday before Easter, is so called from the custom of blessing branches of the palm-tree, or of other trees substituted in those countries in which palm cannot be procured, and of carrying the blessed branches in procession, in commemoration of the triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerusalem. The date of the origin of this custom is uncertain; the procession cannot be traced back beyond the 8th century, though the name Palm Sunday is found two or three centuries earlier. The Greeks appear to have adopted the festival long before the Latins; their procession is at matins. In the Roman Catholic Church the celebrant blesses the branches before the mass, and they are then distributed to the people; the clergy in procession pass out of the church, the doors are closed, and the ancient hymn known in English as 'All glory, laud, and honour' is sung by the choir within and those without, until, on the sub-deacon's knocking at the door, it is again thrown open, and the procession re-enters. During the singing of the Passion in the solemn mass which ensues, the congregation hold the palm-branch in their hands, and at the conclusion of the service it is carried home to their respective houses, where it is preserved during the year. Afterwards it is burned, and the ashes employed, as a rule, for Ash-Wednesday. At Rome the pope himself distributes the palm branches to all the churches of the city. In Moscow until 1700, and in parts of Germany until the beginning of the 19th century, a wooden image of an ass was led about the streets, followed by the people bearing the consecrated branches.