In the New Testament you have it written that Jesus entered Jerusalem
for the last time riding on a colt, the foal of an ass. Two of his
disciples, acting upon the instructions of their Master, had entered a
village near the Mount of Olives, and there they found the colt by the
door without, in a place where two ways met. They unloosed the animal,
telling those that stood by and questioned them, that the Master had
need of him. Then they brought the colt to Jesus, who mounted upon its
back, after some of the disciples had spread their garments thereon. It
was thus that Jesus rode into Jerusalem to his death. And when the great
multitude of people who were gathered to the Passover saw him coming
they cut branches from the palm trees by the side of the way, and spread
them on the ground before Jesus, while they cried with joyful voices:
"Hosanna; blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord."
In this incident you have the origin of Palm Sunday. It is the first day
of Holy Week, the week which is dedicated by the Catholic Church to the
commemoration of the sufferings and death of Jesus. With the early
church throughout Europe it was the custom to lay the branches of a tree
upon the altar on this day, and as the palm tree does not grow in
Europe, the box, the yew, and especially the willow tree, were used
instead. The branches were blessed by the priest, sprinkled with holy
water, and then carried in procession through the town. As part of this
procession it was sometimes arranged to have a figure representing Jesus
sitting upon an ass--either a living figure or one made of wood, sitting
upon a wooden animal. This wooden effigy was drawn along upon wheels,
and the people in the street scattered the consecrated branches before
it. Flowers were sometimes used as well as the branches of trees.
It is a beautiful ceremony, this blessing of flowers and tree-branches
upon Palm Sunday in memory of Christ's entry into Jerusalem, and it is
one to interest all you children. But in the Middle Ages a great many
unworthy things, such as the selling of palm-branches in order to avert
diseases, became associated with Palm Sunday. Indeed, that whole week,
the week that should have been so solemn and sacred, was turned into an
occasion of feasting and frivolity. At the Reformation many of these
unworthy things were abolished, and the ceremonies in connection with
Palm Sunday were considerably modified here in England. Yet in some
parts of the country it is still a custom to go a-palming--that is to
say, to gather willow-branches--on the day before Palm Sunday.
With the Roman Catholic Church, however, and especially in the
ceremonies at Rome during Holy Week, an important place is given to Palm
Sunday. The officiating priest blesses the branches, which are then
distributed. In the solemn mass that follows, the people in the
congregation hold the branches in their hands to the end of the service.
In most cases these consecrated branches are taken home and preserved
during the year; then they are burned and the ashes used upon Ash
Wednesday.