page_title: Palm branch
section_title: Christianity
hierarchical_section_title: Palm branch / Christianity
caption_attribution_description: English: Palm Sunday in Sanok
context_page_description: The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world. The palm was sacred in Mesopotamian religions, and in ancient Egypt represented immortality. In Judaism, the lulav, a closed frond of the date palm is part of the festival of Sukkot. A palm branch was awarded to victorious athletes in ancient Greece, and a palm frond or the tree itself is one of the most common attributes of Victory personified in ancient Rome.
  In Christianity, the palm branch is associated with Jesus' Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday, when, according to John's gospel, "they took palm branches and went out to meet Him". Consequently, palms are not mentioned in any of the other three canonical gospel accounts. The palm has meaning in Christianity as well Christian iconography to represent victory, i.e. the victory of the spirit over the flesh, Revelation 7:9.
  Since a victory signals an end to a conflict or competition, the palm developed into a symbol of peace, a meaning it can have in Islam, where it is often associated with Paradise.
context_section_description: In Christianity, the palm branches distributed during Palm Sunday services originate in the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. Early Christians used the palm branch to symbolize the victory of the faithful over enemies of the soul, as in the Palm Sunday festival celebrating the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Many churches of mainstream Christian denominations, including the Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, Moravian and Reformed traditions, distribute palm branches to their congregations during their Palm Sunday services. Christians take these palms, which are often blessed by clergy, to their homes where they hang them alongside Christian art (especially crosses and crucifixes) or keep them in their Bibles or devotionals. In the period preceding next year's Lent, known as Shrovetide, churches often place a basket in their narthex to collect these palms, which are then ritually burned on Shrove Tuesday to make the ashes to be used on the following day, Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent.
  In western Christian art, martyrs were often shown holding a palm frond as an attribute, representing the victory of spirit over flesh, and it was widely believed that a picture of a palm on a tomb meant that a martyr was buried there.
  Origen calls the palm (In Joan, XXXI) the symbol of victory in that war waged by the spirit against the flesh. In this sense it was especially applicable to martyrs, the victors par excellence over the spiritual foes of mankind; hence the frequent occurrence in the Acts of the martyrs of such expressions as "he received the palm of martyrdom." On 10 April 1688 it was decided by the Congregation of Rites that the palm when found depicted on catacomb tombs was to be regarded as a proof that a martyr had been interred there. Subsequently, this opinion was acknowledged by Mabillon, Muratori, Benedict XIV and others to be untenable; further investigation showed that the palm was represented not only on tombs of the post-persecution era, but even on tombs of those who did not practice Christianity.
  The general significance of the palm on early Christian monuments is slightly modified according to its association with other symbols (e.g., with the monogram of Christ, the Ichthus (Fish), or the Good Shepherd). On some later monuments the palm was represented merely as an ornament separating two scenes. Palms also represented heaven, evidenced by ancient art often depicting Jesus in heaven among palms.
  In the Middle Ages, pilgrims to the Holy Land would bring back palms for deposit at their home churches. Crusaders would carry or wear an image of one, seen today in the Catholic Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which still awards a Palm of Jerusalem decoration. In addition, the Custody of the Holy Land, courtesy of the Catholic Church, bestows the Jerusalem Pilgrim's Cross on Catholic pilgrims to the city.
caption: Palms carried on Palm Sunday, 2011, at Sanok, Poland
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