Date palm sunday 2013 Cellebration ?

Sunday, March 24

Palm Sunday 2013

Date Palm Sunday 2013, When ?

Palm Sunday, the final Sunday before Easter Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week. Christian churches distribute palms (and sometimes pussy willows) on Palm Sunday to commemorate Christ's triumphal entrance into Jerusalem, when palm branches were placed in His path, before His arrest and Crucifixion on Good Friday.

 Answer:

 Palm Sunday falls on March 24, 2013. Stay up to date on the latest Catholicism news and learn more about the Catholic Faith. Sign up for our free Catholicism newsletter today!\


http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/f/2013_Palm_Sun.htm

Palm Sunday In Other Countries

Belgium

 In Hoegaarden one of the last remaining Palm Sunday processions take place every year. A fellowship of Twelve Apostles carries a wooden statue of Christ around the town, while children go door to door offering the palms (box) for coins.

 Bulgaria In Bulgaria, Palm Sunday is known as Tsvetnitsa (tsvete is flower) or Vrabnitsa (varba is willow). People with flower-related names, (for example Tsvetelina, Tsvetelin, Tsvetana, Tsvetan, Tsvetko, Margarita, Ralitsa, Lilia, Violeta, Yavor, Zdravko, Zjumbjul, Nevena, Temenuzhka, Rosa etc.) celebrate this day as their "name day". Finland In Finland, it is popular for children to dress up as Easter witches and go door to door in neighborhoods for coins and candy. It is an old Karelian custom called Virpominen.

 India

 Flowers (in this instance marigolds) strewn about the sanctuary in an Oriental Orthodox church in Mumbai, India on Palm Sunday In the South Indian state of Kerala, (and in Indian Orthodox, Church of South India(CSI), Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, and Syrian Orthodox Church (Jacobite) congregations elsewhere in India and throughout the West), flowers are strewn about into the sanctuary on Palm Sunday during the reading of the Gospel at the words uttered by the crowd welcoming Jesus, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who is come and is to come in the name of the Lord God." These words are read to the congregation thrice. The congregation then repeats, "Hosanna!" and the flowers are scattered. This echoes pre-Christian Hindu celebrations in which flowers are strewn on festive occasions; however, this also echoes the honour shown to Jesus upon his entry into Jerusalem. Indian Orthodoxy traces its roots to the arrival in India of St. Thomas the Apostle in AD 52 (according to tradition) and his evangelism among both the Brahmans of the Malabar Coast and the ancient Jewish community there. Its rites and ceremonies are both Hindu and Jewish, as well as Levantine Christian, in origin. In Syro-Malabar Catholic Church's palm leaves are blessed during Palm Sunday ceremony and a Procession will take place holding the palms.[

 Italy

 In Italy palm leaves are used along with small olive branches, readily available in the Mediterranean climate. These are placed at the entrance of houses (for instance, hanging above the door) to last until the following year's Palm Sunday. For this reason, usually palm leaves are not used whole, due to their size; instead, leave stripes are braided into smaller shapes. Small olive branches are also often used to decorate traditional Easter cakes, along with other symbols of birth, like eggs.

 Latvia

 In Latvia, Palm Sunday is called "Pussy Willow Sunday", and pussy willows – symbolizing new life – are blessed and distributed to the faithful.[10] Children are often woken that morning with ritualistic swats of a willow branch.

 Malta

 All the parishes of Malta and Gozo on Palm Sunday (in Maltese Ħadd il-Palm) bless the palm leaves and the olive leaves. Those parishes that have the statues of Good Friday bless the olive tree they put on the statues of "Jesus prays in the Olive Garden" (Ġesù fl-Ort) and the "Betrayal of Judas" (il-Bewsa ta' Ġuda). Also, many people take a small branch of olive to their homes because it is a sacramental.

The Levant

 In Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, Palm Sunday – known as Shaa'nineh in Arabic- is perhaps the best-attended service in the Christian Calendar, among the Orthodox, Catholic (Latin rite and Eastern rite), Maronite and Anglican Churches, perhaps because it is notably a family occasion. On this day, children attend church with branches from olive and palm trees. Also, there will be carefully woven crosses and other symbols made from palm fronds and roses. There will normally be a procession at the beginning of the service and at some point, the priest will take an olive branch and splash holy water on the faithful.  

Netherlands

 In the Saxon regions of the Netherlands, crosses are decorated with candy and bread, made in the form of a rooster. In the diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden, a great procession with oil lamps is held the night before Palm Sunday in honour of the Sorrowful Mother of Warfhuizen.  

Philippines

 Holy Week in the Philippines A priest blesses palms (2012 Palm Sunday, Plaridel, Bulacan Church). In the Philippines, communities re-enact Jesus' triumphal entry with a procession. A statue of Christ on the donkey or the officiating priest mounted on horse process around or towards the local church, surrounded by palm-bearing churchgoers. In some towns, elderly women spread heirloom "aprons" (made for this sole purpose) or large cloths along the procession route in imitation of the Jerusalemites. Children dressed as angels sometimes sing the Osana ("Hosanna") whilst strewing flowers about. Once blessed, the ornately woven palaspas (palm branches), are taken home by the faithful and are placed on altars or hung beside, on or above doorways and windows. Although the true purpose of this custom is to welcome Jesus Christ, many Filipinos hold the branches to be apotropaic, able to turn away any evil spirits, avert lightning and fires. There is also a folk tradition of feeding pieces of the palm leaves to roosters for cockfighting, a primitive belief strongly discouraged by the Archbishop of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle.  

Poland

A palm in Łyse, Poland. Many Polish towns and villages (the best known are Lipnica Murowana in Małopolska and Łyse) organize artificial palm competitions. The biggest of those reach above 30 meters in length; for example, the highest palm in 2008 was 33.39 meters high.

 Romania and Moldova

In Romania and Moldova, Palm Sunday is known as Duminica Floriilor or simply Florii, translating Flowers' Sunday.

 Spain

 See also: Holy Week in Spain In Elche, Spain, the location of the biggest palm grove in Europe, there is a tradition of tying and covering palm leaves to whiten them away from sunlight and then drying and braiding them in elaborate shapes. A Spanish rhyming proverb states: Domingo de Ramos, quien no estrena algo, se le caen las manos ("On Palm Sunday, the hands drop off of those who fail to wear something new")

Observance in the liturgy - Western Christianity

In ancient times, palm branches symbolized goodness and victory. They were often depicted on coins and important buildings. Solomon had palm branches carved into the walls and doors of the temple (1 Kings 6:29). Again at the end of the Bible, people from every nation raise palm branches to honor Jesus (Revelation 7:9). Catholic Bishop entered the church to celebrate solemn pontifical Mass of Palm Sunday, in the traditional form of the Roman rite. Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-9), when palm branches were placed in His path, before His arrest on Holy Thursday and His Crucifixion on Good Friday. It thus marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent, and the week in which Christians celebrate the mystery of their salvation through Christ's Death and His Resurrection on Easter Sunday.†††G.T.K 2.4.12 In the Roman Catholic Church, as well as among many Anglican and Lutheran congregations, palm fronds (or in colder climates some kind of substitutes) are blessed with an aspergillum outside the church building (or in cold climates in the narthex when Easter falls early in the year). A solemn procession also takes place. It may include the normal liturgical procession of clergy and acolytes, the parish choir, or the entire congregation. In the Catholic Church, this feast now coincides with that of Passion Sunday, which is the focus of the Mass which follows the service of the blessing of palms. Blessing of palms outside an Episcopal Church in the United States. The palms are saved in many churches to be burned the following year as the source of ashes used in Ash Wednesday services. The Catholic Church considers the blessed palms to be sacramentals. The vestments for the day are deep scarlet red, the color of blood, indicating the supreme redemptive sacrifice Christ was entering the city to fulfill: his Passion and Resurrection in Jerusalem. In the Episcopal and many other Anglican churches and in Lutheran churches, as well, the day is nowadays officially called "The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday"; in practice, though, it is usually termed "Palm Sunday" as in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer and in earlier Lutheran liturgies and calendars, to avoid undue confusion with the penultimate Sunday of Lent in the traditional calendar, which was "Passion Sunday". In the Church of Pakistan (a member of the Anglican Communion) on Palm Sunday, the faithful carry palm branches into the church, as they sing Psalm 24. In many Protestant churches, children are given palms, and then walk in procession around the inside of the church while the adults remain seated.[citation needed]

Observance in the liturgy - Eastern and Oriental Christianity

In some of the Orthodox Church, Palm Sunday is often called the "Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem", is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year, and is the beginning of Holy Week. The day before is known as Lazarus Saturday, and commemorates the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead. Unlike the West, Palm Sunday is not considered to be a part of Lent, the Eastern Orthodox Great Fast ends on the Friday before. Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Holy Week are considered to be a separate fasting period. On Lazarus Saturday, believers often prepare palm fronds by knotting them into crosses in preparation for the procession on Sunday. The hangings and vestments in the church are changed to a festive color - gold in the Greek tradition and green in the Slavic tradition. The Troparion of the Feast indicates the resurrection of Lazarus is a prefiguration of Jesus' own Resurrection: O Christ our God When Thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead before Thy Passion, Thou didst confirm the resurrection of the universe. Wherefore, we like children, carry the banner of triumph and victory, and we cry to Thee, O Conqueror of love, Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. In the Russian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Ukrainian Catholic Church, Ruthenian Catholic Church, Polish, Bavarian and Austrian Roman Catholics, and various other Eastern European peoples, the custom developed of using pussy willow instead of palm fronds because the latter are not readily available that far north. There is no canonical requirement as to what kind of branches must be used, so some Orthodox believers use olive branches. Whatever the kind, these branches are blessed and distributed together with candles either during the All-Night Vigil on the Eve of the Feast (Saturday night), or before the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning. The Great Entrance of the Divine Liturgy commemorates the "Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem", so the meaningfulness of this moment is punctuated on Palm Sunday as everyone stands, holding their branches and lit candles. The faithful take these branches and candles home with them after the service, and keep them in their icon corner as an evloghia (blessing). In Russia, donkey walk processions took place in different cities, but most importantly in Novgorod and, since 1558 until 1693, in Moscow. It was prominently featured in testimonies by foreign witnesses and mentioned in contemporary Western maps of the city. The Patriarch of Moscow, representing Christ, rode on a "donkey" (actually a horse draped in white cloth); the Tsar of Russia humbly led the procession on foot. Originally, Moscow processions began inside the Kremlin and terminated at Trinity Church, now known as Saint Basil's Cathedral, but in 1658 Patriarch Nikon reversed the order of procession. Peter I, as a part of his nationalisation of the church, terminated the custom; it has been occasionally recreated in the 21st century. In Oriental Orthodox churches, palm fronds are distributed at the front of the church at the sanctuary steps, in India the sanctuary itself having been strewn with marigolds, and the congregation proceeds through and outside the church.

Biblical basis and symbolism

In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place about a week before his Resurrection.The symbolism is captured in Zechariah 9:9 "The Coming of Zion's King - See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey". It was perceived that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Israel to the anger of the Sanhedrin. Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, fresco in the Parish Church Zirl, Austria According to the Gospels, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there lay down their cloaks in front of him, and also lay down small branches of trees. The people sang part of Psalms 118:  ... Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord ....[ The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, which is the animal of war.[1] Therefore, a king came riding upon a horse when he was bent on war and rode upon a donkey when he wanted to point out he was coming in peace. Therefore, Jesus' entry to Jerusalem symbolized his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king.

 In many lands in the ancient Near East, it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. The Hebrew Bible (2Kings 9:13) reports that Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, was treated this way. Both the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John report that people gave Jesus this form of honour. However, in the synoptics they are only reported as laying their garments and cut rushes on the street, whereas John more specifically mentions palm fronds. The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory in Jewish tradition, and is treated in other parts of the Bible as such (e.g., Leviticus 23:40 and Revelation 7:9). Because of this, the scene of the crowd greeting Jesus by waving palms and carpeting his path with them and their cloaks has become symbolic and important. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Palm Sunday was marked by the burning of Jack-'o'-Lent figures. This was a straw effigy which would be stoned and abused. Its burning on Palm Sunday was often supposed to be a kind of revenge on Judas Iscariot, who had betrayed Christ. It could also have represented the hated figure of Winter whose destruction prepares the way for Spring.

What is Palm Sunday means ?

Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four canonical Gospels. (Mark 11:1–11, Matthew 21:1–11, Luke 19:28–44, and John 12:12–19).


 In many Christian churches, Palm Sunday is marked by the distribution of palm leaves (often tied into crosses) to the assembled worshippers. The difficulty of procuring palms for that day's ceremonies in unfavorable climates for palms led to the substitution of boughs of box, yew, willow, olive, or other native trees. The Sunday was often designated by the names of these trees, as Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday.