Bulgarians Celebrate Palm Sunday

The Orthodox world celebrates one of the great Christian holidays - the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Days before his death on the Cross, Jesus Christ was solemnly welcomed in the holy city. The crowd greeted him with palm branches. This is how the tradition of distributing consecrated willow branches in temples was established. The holiday is also called Vrabnitsa or Tsvetnitsa and has the most name days in Bulgaria - over 346 thousand people.

The Gospel texts tell how, at his last coming to Jerusalem, Christ was received royally and with the honors predicted by the Old Testament prophets. Many wanted to see the one who raised Lazarus the day before.

With rapturous shouts and palm branches, children and adults greeted the Savior. In malice and envy, the high priests resented and conspired to kill him and Lazarus.

"The Lord is entering Jerusalem on a donkey. I hope we welcome him in our hearts and not say 'crucify him' and be with him always."

As a memory of the solemn event in the holy city, the tradition of distributing lit willow branches was established in the temples. They are taken to the homes for blessing.

"We celebrate all of us with the names of flowers, with the names of trees. I will go to mass, experience the great feast, then I will celebrate my name day".

In the temples, lit willow branches are distributed. Father Doncho Alexandrov from the "St. Athanasius" church in Varna talks about the meaning of this tradition.

"We carry these willow branches in our homes with this faith that we have witnessed Christ's entry into our lives, it is a sign of our faith and a blessing that we carry into our home from our Savior".

For Lovech, Tsvetnitsa is the town's unofficial...