Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter and the beginning of Holy Week on the Christian calendar. Palm Sunday worship recalls when people spread palms and clothing in front of Jesus as he entered Jerusalem. This procession took place several days before he was crucified. Palm Sunday marks a turn in Christian churches’ observance of Lent from a time of discipline and sorrow for one’s sins to a time of looking ahead to the Passion (suffering and death) of Jesus and his Resurrection.
By the late 300’s, Christians in Jerusalem were celebrating Palm Sunday on the first day of Holy Week. It was part of a trend there to remember the last events of Jesus’s life by holding services at sacred sites in the city. Today, Christians in many traditions observe Palm Sunday with the blessing and distribution of palms. Usually, the ceremony includes a procession.
