Palm Sunday/Willow Sunday in Russia

Today the Russian Orthodox Church is celebrating Willow Sunday.

Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week during which Christians remember the last week of Jesus's life. Palm Sunday celebrates Christ's glorious entry into Jerusalem in the days before his execution. The people greeted him as if he were their king by waving palm branches. In Russia, palms are not available in cold climates, and the first thing that blooms in the early spring is pussy willows. That is why, in the Russian Orthodox Church the feast is called Willow Sunday, and at Willow Sunday services, people hold small bundles of pussy willows instead of palm fronds.