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PALM (Willow) SUNDAY

When: April on Sunday before easter sunday
Where: Celebrated by Eastern Orthodox Christians all over the world.

This day commemorates the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Palm branches were thrown on the street to make a path, hence the name of the day. Churches decorate with palm on this day. In England, where palm is unobtainable, pussy willow is used instead.
The week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is called Holy Week. It is the final week of Lent, and today many Christians, especially Catholics, still observe it as a fast, eating plain food and omitting meat in favor of fish. The fast is especially significant on Good Friday (March 28), the day that Jesus was crucified.
Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese communities have a number of fast dishes made from salt cod. In Puerto Rico, it is traditional to make large amounts of escabeche, a marinated fish that can be kept refrigerated for many days. While salt cod is the traditional choice, the technique is also used with fresh white fish such as snapper and grouper. In this way, the cook of the household can observe the solemnities without having to spend a lot of time preparing meals.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, this day is the equivalent of Palm Sunday. It is celebrated with pussy willows instead of palms, which are unobtainable in northern Europe. Pussy willows are sold or picked in bunches of 7, a prime number composed of 4 for the points of the compass and 3 for the trinity. Celebrants take their bunches to church and then to the graves of their relatives. After cleaning the graves, they toast the dead with vodka. Pussy willow is also used in the Romanian Easter.
In prerevolutionary Russia, Lent was observed with a strict fast with limitations not only on meat but also on cheese, milk, eggs, butter, and other fats. As in the western tradition, Holy Week, starting with Willow Sunday and continuing until Easter Sunday, was the strictest period of the year for Christians. The post-Soviet revival of the Orthodox Church means that many old observances, once frowned on by the government, are returning. Palm Sunday is observed in the month of by several Eastern Orthodox Churches that use the Julian calendar.

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