Palm Sunday Branches

Informant: T.N.had a very unique upbringing in that her father was in the Air Force, which caused her family to relocate extremely often. When she was young, her younger sister tragically died of leukemia at the age of five, and her father soon died in an airplane accident. Her mother remarried afterwards to another Air Force veteran who then worked in real estate, which also led to several relocations. T.N. grew up all around the United States but spent most of her time in Tampa Bay, Florida until she moved to Indian Wells, California for her Senior year of high school before matriculating to USC. She now resides in Palos Verdes Estates, California.

Folklore:

“Not sure if this is Folklore or not, but I love this one. As you know, Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter. At the Mass service on Palm Sunday, Palm fronds are passed out to the congregation. These are meant to represent Jesus Christ and his love. I’m not exactly sure the history behind it… I think that they supposedly waved palm branches when Jesus would enter a place. So because of this, the palm fronds represent Jesus’ protection. For this reason, as you know… our family would always gather extra palm branches and fold them into a Cross. We put these in our cars and in each of our rooms. This isn’t a teaching of the Bible, but something I did with my parents. To me it represents the protective and healing powers of Jesus Christ.”

Analysis:

This is really powerful to me. Palm Sunday is integral to Christians and the Catholic Church, but nowhere does it say that palm branches should be formed into a cross and kept in every room of the house and even cars. However, I have always grown up with this tradition, which was passed down from my parents and their parents. Right now, I have a palm branch in my dorm room and in my glove compartment. This tradition is particularly important to me.