Have you ever seen the Palm Sunday Cross? Have you ever wondered how a palm cross is made, how the palm leaves are folded? The video below shows a specific type of Palm Cross. Papa Giorgis from Zaro, in South Crete, show show easy it is to make this specific cross out of a palm leaf.
Palm Sunday recalls the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem.
A Sunday before East, churches distribute palm leaves in remembrance of the people who waved them and carpeted Jesus path with them.
People can fold the palm leaves into crosses.
Papa-Giorgis Lemonakis makes the Palm Cross crosses by himself and distributes them to the faithful.
The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world. The palm was sacred in Mesopotamian religions, and in ancient Egypt represented immortality.
In Christianity, the palm branch is associated particularly with Palm Sunday, when according to Christian tradition palm branches were waved at the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It was adopted into Christian iconography to represent the victory of martyrs, or the victory of the spirit over the flesh.
In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place in the days before the Last Supper, marking the beginning of his Passion.
Crowds gather around Jesus and believe in him in John 12:9-11 after he raised Lazarus from the dead, and the next day the multitudes that had gathered for the feast in Jerusalem welcome Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.
In Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19, Jesus descends from the Mount of Olives towards Jerusalem, and the crowds lay their clothes on the ground to welcome him as he triumphantly enters Jerusalem.
On his entry into the city, Matthew’s account suggests that Jesus evoked great excitement – “all the city was moved” – but also that Jesus may not have been known to the people of Jerusalem: the people of the city asked “Who is this?” and “the multitudes” answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee”.
In the Synoptic Gospels, this episode is followed by the Cleansing of the Temple episode and, in all four Gospels, Jesus performs various healings and teaches by way of parables while in Jerusalem until the Last Supper.
Traditionally, entering the city on a donkey symbolizes arrival in peace, rather than as a war-waging king arriving on a horse.
A traditional Palm Cross.
