Palm Sunday

Culture of origin: Christian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Armenian · Assyrian · Australia (national) · Canada (federal) · Christianity · France · Germany (nationwide) · United Kingdom (England and Wales) · United States (federal)

Palm Sunday falls on the Sunday before Easter and opens Holy Week. It recalls Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey while the crowd laid cloaks and branches in his path, as told in all four Gospels. Churches bless and hand out palm branches, often woven into crosses; where palms are scarce, willow, box, olive or yew are used, and the kept palms are burned the next year for Ash Wednesday's ashes.