Church Decoration for Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is the day for the blessing, distribution, and procession of palms to commemorate Christ's entry into Jerusalem prior to his Passion and Death.  Palm Sunday falls within the rule that there are to be no church flowers during Lent.

Customarily, there is some sort of decoration with palms, or if palms are not available, other foliage is used such as box, yew, willow, or olive. McClinton adds that another alternative might be huckleberry.

Traditionally, the liturgical color for vestments and altar frontals is violet/ purple (although modernly red has been permitted).  McClinton has this suggestion for the altar vases:

"For the altar vases on Palm Sunday, arrangements may be made with palm strips, and the light chartreuse green of the strips makes a beautiful color contrast against a purple [frontal]."

Palm strips are the leaf part of the palm cut away from the stem -- the part that is usually distributed to the faithful on Palm Sunday.

If palm is not available to you, here are pictures of the other types of foliage sometimes used instead of palm:

Box

Yew

Willow

Olive

Huckleberry

Source of quoted material:   McClinton, Katherine Morrison; Flower Arrangement in the Church (Morehouse-Gorham, 1958), p. 95.

Images:  All are from Wikimedia Commons.  Click on name below for license.

Palm leaves:  Photograph by Katebranch

Box:  Photograph by Didier Descouens

Yew:  Photograph by Didier Descouens

Willow:  Photograph by "Willow"

Olive:  Photograph by "Cosasdebeas"

Huckleberry:  Photograph by "Magnus Manske"

About the Veiling of Images during Passiontide

The traditional veiling of images during Passiontide (this week and Holy Week) has an interesting history and a profound effect on the Faithful:

"The Gospel reading for Passion Sunday in the Classical Rite (i.e. the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the start of Passiontide) tells us how Jesus 'hid' Himself from the Hebrews when they attempted to stone him (cf. John 8:59).  According to St. Augustine, at this moment when Jesus hid Himself from the angry crowd, Christ in fact became invisible to them by virtue of His Divine nature. To help signify this mystery, holy images in church are veiled the evening before Passion Sunday. This includes images of the saints, as it is befitting that if the glory of the Master is hidden, then His servants should also not appear. 

"Indeed, in the Latin Church, we 'hide' His images for two weeks out of the year in a spirit of penance and mourning. An acute sadness is felt in the human heart. We long to be reunited with Him. The veil suggests the discomfort of being separated from Him. We prepare for the agony and triumph of the Easter Triduum. Outsiders are intrigued by these little customs. Children remember them. The Faith is passed on. Let us preserve the inheritance that has been handed on to us by the wisdom of our forefathers in the Faith."

 According to the article in the Liturgical Arts Journal quoted above, originally the veiling was in white.  Read more here. 

N.B.  Readers might be surprised to see that in the linked article there are veiled images together with elaborate altar flowers.  It is a puzzling choice. Given that the vestments are somewhat golden, I suppose the photos might have been taken during one of the solemnities that occur during Lent.  Altar flowers are permitted during the solemnities of St. Joseph and the Annunciation though generally prohibited during Lent.  The liturgical color for those solemnities is white and where the vestments are white, gold may be substituted.

Our Lord and the Passion Flower

 

Since tomorrow March 22 is Passion Sunday and the beginning of Passiontide (which begins with vespers tonight), this seems like a good time to look at the Passion Flower.  

As a Wikipedia article explains, the elements of this plant are seen as symbols for Christ's Passion. Missionaries used it for teaching purposes. The tendrils were said to represent the whips used in the Flagellation, the pointed tips of the leaves were seen as the Lance that pierced the Sacred Heart, the stigmas as the Three Nails and the anthers as the Five Wounds.

There is an article by Elaine Jordan here with many photos and much detailed information.