(This is a rerun of an earlier post with some minor changes)
Palm Sunday is a bit of a misnomer because in today's assigned reading, palm branches were not the most important things spread on the road.
"Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road." Luke 19: 35-36Spreading one's cloak on the road was a greater sacrifice, because cloaks were probably quite valuable and the roads back then were pretty nasty what with all those colts and donkeys coming and going, and going.
So why don't we call it "Cloak Sunday"?
People have tried to lobby for such a change, but it never caught on. I guess folks are not too willing to toss their Sunday best into the church aisle for the priests, acolytes, and choirs to walk over in a reenactment of the event.
If you ever get tired of calling it "Palm Sunday" and are not ready to make the sacrifice of "Cloak Sunday", here are a few of the various names used historically and around the world for today's commemoration (derived from the Catholic Encyclopedia plus one from an older post here*),
- Kyriake
- Heorte ton baion
- Heorte baiophoros
- Lazarus Sunday
- Dominica in Palmis
- Dominica Palmarum
- Dies Palmarum
- Dominica Hosanna
- Pascha floridum
- Pâques fleuries
- Pascua florida
- Dominica florida
- Dies floridus
- Fig Sunday*
- Flower Sunday
- Olive Sunday
- Branch Sunday
- Sallow Sunday
- Willow Sunday
- Yew Sunday
- Blossom Sunday
- Sunday of the Willow Boughs
- Blumensonntag
- Blumentag
- Secundus floricultus (Armenian seventh Sunday after Easter)
- Secunda palmarum dominica (Armenian seventh Sunday after Easter)
It has also been suggested that we tack branches on our doors to celebrate Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem.
Pewsterspouse and I will be tacking a housecoat (the closest thing we have to a cloak) to our doorway.
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