PALM SUNDAY

Selections from Kevin Danaher’s The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs.

"At least one member of every household brought home from the church a piece of the palm blessed on this day in commemoration of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. Usually every member of the family was at Mass and each brought home a piece of palm. The men and boys broke off a sprig of it when leaving the church and wore it all day in hat or cap band or coat lapel.

"In Ireland the ‘palm’ is usually conifer such as silver fir, spruce, cypress or, very often, yew. Indeed, Palm Sunday was Domhnach an Iúir (Yew Sunday) to many Irish speakers."

. . . . .

"A sprig of the palm was hung up in the house, and farming families usually put a sprig in the byre, too, so that the cattle might share in the blessing and protection. A sprig was set aside for use when occasion arose as a holy water sprinkler."

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"It was especially ominous if Palm Sunday fell upon another festival. If ‘the Shamrock and the Palm were worn together’, that is to say if Palm Sunday coincided with St. Patrick’s Day something unusual was expected to occur, although opinions varied as to what this might be. Usually it was taken as a happy omen – the summer would be exceptionally fine, or Ireland’s troubles would come to an end. Similar prognostications were confidently made when Palm Sunday fell upon 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation."