First Lady Marta Nawrocka met with representatives of the Kurpie Brotherhood of Beekeepers to jointly celebrate Palm Sunday. In the chapel of the Presidential Palace, unique Kurpie palms were blessed.
Cultivating tradition
The First Lady expressed her gratitude to her guests. “Thank you for preserving Kurpie folklore in such a beautiful way. These precisely decorated little masterpieces are a charming example of your love for Polish tradition,” she emphasized.
Palm Sunday, known in the Catholic Church as Passion Sunday, marks the beginning of Holy Week – the most important time of the year for Christians, during which the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are commemorated.
Palm Sunday is one of two days in the Catholic Church when the description of the Passion is read or sung. This takes place without candlesticks or the incensation of the book. The reader also does not greet the people or make the sign of the cross on the book or on themselves. Before the Second Vatican Council, people did not attend liturgies on Holy Thursday and Good Friday in such large numbers, so the reading of the entire Passion on Palm Sunday gave them an opportunity to engage with the most important mysteries of the Christian faith.
According to tradition, palms are kept throughout the year. The ashes produced from burning them are used to sprinkle the heads of the faithful on Ash Wednesday.