Holy Week
The last week of Lent is known as Holy Week. It is when Christians remember the last week of Jesus’ life and is the most important time in the Christian year. There are many church services and processions.
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week. It reminds Christians of the journey Jesus made into Jerusalem on a donkey to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover (Pesach). Jesus chose a donkey to show that he had come in peace. Many people welcomed Jesus by shouting, waving palm branches and throwing branches down in the donkey’s path. They hoped that Jesus was the Saviour promised in the Bible.
Palm Sunday is both a happy and sad day. Christians are happy because they sing praises to Jesus, but also sad because they know Jesus died less than a week after his arrival in Jerusalem.
In churches on Palm Sunday, Christians are given small palm crosses made from palm leaves. Leftover crosses are kept for the following year’s Ash Wednesday service, when they are burned and the ash is used to mark crosses on people’s foreheads.
