Palm Sunday
is the sixth and final Sunday of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week, the most
solemn period in the Christian church. In 2007, Palm Sunday falls on April 1.
Instructions
* STEP
1: Go to church. Even if you're not religious
in a formal way, the Palm Sunday service ' particularly the Catholic Mass '
is worth seeing.
* STEP
2: Listen as the celebrant of the Mass says five prayers asking God
to bless the palm branches; he then sprinkles them with holy water, infuses
them with incense and, after another prayer, distributes them to the congregation
as the choir sings "Pueri Hebraeorum." Clergy and congregation form
a procession and, carrying the blessed palms, march out of the church.
*
STEP 3: While everyone else waits outside, two or four chanters
enter the church and sing the hymn "Gloria, laus," which those outside
repeat.
*
STEP 4: At the end of the hymn, the subdeacon knocks at the
church door with the staff of the cross, the door is opened and everyone enters
singing "Ingrediente Domino".
*
STEP 5: Stay for the subsequent Mass, the highlight being the
singing of the Passion according to St. Matthew, during which everyone holds
their palm branches.
*
STEP 6: Keep in mind that, traditionally, the faithful took
their blessed palms home and used them as protective charms in the house, barn
or fields.
