Editing Palm Sunday (section)

===Western Christianity===
[[File:Procesión de las Palmas - Toledo, España - 2010.jpg|thumb|Palm sunday procession in Toledo, Spain]]
[[File:Palmsonntag in Osttimor 2019.jpg|thumb|Palm Sunday in [[East Timor]]]]
[[File:Le palme.jpg|thumb|Palm Sunday in [[Avetrana]], Italy]]

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.<ref>{{bibleverse||1 Kings|6:29|KJV}}</ref> Again at the end of the Bible, people from every nation raise palm branches to honor Jesus.<ref>{{bibleverse||Revelation|7:9|KJV}}</ref>

Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem,<ref>{{bibleverse||Matthew|21:1-9|KJV}}</ref> during which 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.

In churches of many [[Christian denomination]]s, members of the congregation, oftentimes children, are given palms that they carry as they walk in a procession around the inside of the church.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/palm-sunday-marks-start-of-holy-week.html|title=Palm Sunday Marks Start of Holy Week|first1=Eric|last1=Young|website=The Christian Post|date=28 March 2010|language=en|access-date=2019-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030152519/https://www.christianpost.com/news/palm-sunday-marks-start-of-holy-week.html|archive-date=30 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.womansday.com/life/a26557005/when-is-palm-sunday/|title=When Is Palm Sunday? Here's Everything You Need to Know|last=Ballard|first=Jamie|date=2019-03-04|website=Woman's Day|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030152520/https://www.womansday.com/life/a26557005/when-is-palm-sunday/|archive-date=30 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[Church of Pakistan]], a [[United and uniting churches|united Protestant Church]], the faithful on Palm Sunday carry palm branches into the church as they sing Psalm 24.<ref>{{bibleverse||Psalms|24|KJV}}</ref> A robust hymnody has developed for Palm Sunday, including "[[Jeanette Threlfall|Hosanna, Loud Hosanna]]", "[[Ride On, Ride On in Majesty!]]", "[[All Glory, Laud and Honour]]", "[[Palms of Victory]]", and "[[Thomas Ravenscroft|Hark the glad sound! the Saviour comes]]".<ref>{{cite web |title=10 Palm Sunday Hymns to Start Holy Week |url=https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/palm-sunday-hymns-worship-songs-holy-week.html |publisher=[[Christianity.com]] |access-date=6 January 2025 |language=en |date=19 March 2024}}</ref>

In the [[Roman Catholic Church]], as well as among many [[Lutheran]] and [[Anglican]] congregations, palm fronds (or in colder climates some kind of substitutes) are [[Blessing|blessed]] with [[holy water]] outside the church building (or in cold climates in the [[narthex]] when Easter falls early in the year) in an event called the Blessing of the Palms. A solemn procession of the entire congregation takes place immediately after the blessing of the palms, called the Palm procession.

In the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions, this feast now coincides with that of [[Passion Sunday]], which is the focus of the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] which follows the procession. The Catholic Church considers the blessed palms to be [[sacramentals]]. The vestments for the day are deep scarlet red, the colour of blood, indicating the supreme redemptive sacrifice Christ was entering the city to make, to fulfill his passion and resurrection in Jerusalem.

[[File:PalmSunday.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Blessing palms outside an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church in the United States]]]]
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In the Lutheran Churches, as well as in the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]]/Anglican churches, the day is 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 traditional usage of the [[Methodist Church (USA)|Methodist Church]], ''[[Book of Worship for Church and Home (1965)|The Book of Worship for Church and Home]]'' (1965) provides the following [[Collect]] for Palm Sunday:<ref name="BOW1964">{{cite book|title=The Book of Worship for Church and Home: With Orders of Worship, Services for the Administration of the Sacraments and Other Aids to Worship According to the Usages of the Methodist Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ckw6vgAACAAJ|access-date=25 March 2017|year=1964|publisher=Methodist Publishing House|language=en|page=101|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612125930/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ckw6vgAACAAJ|archive-date=12 June 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love toward mankind hast sent thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may both follow the example of his patience and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.<ref name="BOW1964"/>}}