Weaving Palm Fans for Palm Sunday

My post today is about getting ready for Palm Sunday and way past its date for posting. It's never too late though, is it?  This week I plan to dig into my memory and bring up events that remind me of all the fun things we did during the week leading to Easter Sunday

I was born on Palm Sunday,. My mom told me I was born early in the morning when the church bells were ringing. It does make me feel a wee bit special, and as a child, I have very fond memories of the entire Easter week. The special celebrations were not only held at home with my parents and siblings, but also with my classmates in elementary school, and my Sunday school class at church.


Our preparations for Palm Sunday always started the day before. My parents, siblings, and I would spend Saturday searching for the palm fronds and pretty flowers, the essentials we would need to craft and decorate our palm branches for the Hosanna walk at church on Sunday. Once we found these items, we would all sit outside on the verandah facing our living room and begin weaving. 


We would weave the slender, long green leaves, starting from the wider base where the darker green leaves were firmly attached to a very hard stem, and work our way to the delicate tip where the leaves were less hardy, transparent, and a brighter green. Our fingers seemed to work alongside a rhythmic tune, a rhythmic pattern - over, under, between, and pull, repeating these motions till a basket-like palm fan emerged. I remember how proud each of us felt when we admired our handiwork.


One of my favorite moments was the finishing touch. Once we were all done weaving, we would carefully choose pretty colorful flowers to insert between the woven leaves, making our palm fans look even more beautiful.  To make sure they stayed fresh, we would stand them in a bowl of water, and sprinkle more water on the stem and leaves to make sure they all stayed fresh for church the following morning! 


The sense of togetherness, creativity, and reverence for Palm Sunday was really a special one! It was a cherished tradition, I wish would have continued! 

Comments

  1. drferreriblogspot.comMarch 26, 2024 at 6:49 AM

    Such a powerful palm memory. It reminds me of spending the whole long Palm Sunday mass weaving all the pieces of palm into crosses and then tying them up with the palm threads we made or found. It was always a good time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PensMarch 27, 2024 at 5:31 AM

      It was a good time! You just reminded me of the cross shapes as well.

      Delete

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