medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
F.X.Weiser, _Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs_, has a slightly
expanded version of these remarks in a brief section on the names of Palm
Sunday:
'The various names for the Sunday before Easter come from
the plants used--palms (Palm Sunday) or branches in general
(Branch Sunday, "Domingo de Ramos," "Dimanche des Rameaux"). In
most countries of Europe real palms are unobtainable, so in their
place people use many other plants: olive branches (in Italy),
box, yew, spruce, willows, and pussy willows.[13] In fact, some
plants have come to be called "palms" because of this usage, such
as the yew in Ireland and the willow in England (palm willow) and
in Germany ("Palmkatzchen"). From the use of willow branches Palm
Sunday was called "Willow Sunday" in parts of England and Poland,
and in Lithuania "Verbu Sekmndienis" (Willow Twig Sunday). The
Greek Church uses the names "Sunday of the Palm-carrying" and
"Hosanna Sunday."
Centuries ago it was customary to bless not only branches but
also various flowers of the season (the flowers are still
mentioned in the first antiphon of the procession). Hence the
name "Flower Sunday," which the day bore in many countries--
"Flowering Sunday" or "Blossom Sunday" in England,
"Blumensonntag" in Germany, "Pasques Fleuris" in France, "Pascua
Florida" in Spain, "Viragvasarnap" in Hungary, "Cvetna" among the
Slavic nations, "Zaghkasart" in Armenia.[14]
The term "Pascua Florida," which in Spain originally meant just
Palm Sunday, was later also applied to the whole festive season
of Easter Week. Thus the State of Florida received its name when,
on March 27, 1513 (Easter Sunday), Ponce de Leon first sighted
the land and named it in honor of the great feast.'
Stan Metheny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill East" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2005 12:16 PM
Subject: [M-R] Offertorium - 27
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Offertorium - 27
The sixth Sunday in Lent, or Sunday before Easter, is called in the old
Missal Dominica in Palmis, that is, Palm Sunday. In the modern Missal
it is called Passion Sunday, a term formerly used of the fifth Sunday
in Lent. Its Mass contains two striking features: The blessing and
distribution of palms, and the reading of the long Passion narrative.
I quote from "Historical Survey of Holy Week: Its Services and
Ceremonial" by J.W. Tyrer, Alcuin Club Collections no. xxix (1932):
'The Blessing of Palms and the Procession which follows it were
introduced into the West at a comparatively late date. They are not
mentioned by Isidore in his account of Palm Sunday . . . not by Rabanus
Maurus . . . who simply repeats Isidore. Nor do any of the early
Sacramentaries . . . say anything about them, nor does O[rdo] R[omanus
primus], though it gives a full account of the ceremonies of Holy Week.
Aldhelm, bishop of Sherborne (A.D. 705-9) mentions indeed the custom of
singing Hosanna in church on Palm Sunday but nothing more . . . But
Amalarius of Metz, a contemporary of Rabanus Maurus . . . adds "In
memory of this we are accustomed throughout our churches to carry
branches and to cry Hosanna"' (p. 49-50).
It would appear then that we are talking about a ninth-century
innovation. It may be of interest to mention what these branches were
made of, since palm was not easily available in Northern Europe. Tyrer
again:
'In countries where neither palms nor olives grew some substitutes had
to be provided. And what these substitutes were in England is shown by
churchwarden's accounts of the fifteenth and sixteen centuries. Box was
not unfrequently used for this purpose . . . Sometimes Yew appears,
instead of Box or in addition to it . . . But the commonest substitute,
the one indeed almost invariably mentioned, is Palm, by which is meant,
not real palms, but willow branches, covered as they are in early
spring with beautiful catkins . . . In my youth in Lancashire we always
spoke of the branches of the flowering willow as 'palms', and certainly
they are much more comely and fit for use in God's service than the
dried palm-leaves so fashionable nowadays. It must not be forgotten
that the branches of trees were everywhere supplemented by Flowers' (p.
55-56).
I for one would be happy to go back to carrying a bouquet of pussy
willows and flowers, rather than the manky little palm crosses we carry
nowadays. But your attention-span is being challenged: more tomorrow.
Bill.
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