Palm Sunday: An Ancient Tradition Palestinian Christians Carry Forth

So most people, including Palestinians, don't know there is a tiny community of Christians in Palestine to this day. Ramallah was once a small Christian town, so like Bethlehem, the chances of meeting Christians is greater than other parts of historic Palestine.

They are called the First Christians as well as Living Stones and are believed to be descendents of the disciples of Jesus Christ. 

This tiny community identifies as an ethnic minority and while they are divided between the many churches in Palestine: Anglican, Roman Catholic, Greek, Orthodox, Lutheran, and so on, they come together twice a year to celebrate their Holy Days.

They realized they would be even smaller alone, so they all agree to celebrate the Roman dates of Christmas on December 25 and the Orthodox dates for Easter. And that means that today, we all celebrated Palm Sunday together. 

The Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, celebrated to honor Jesus entrance into Jerusalem as he was greeted by crowds waiving Palm Branches. Today in Palestine, there were no parades or music or normal celebration, because a genocide is not normal and no one should celebrate in these days. Still, our children made sh3nina from palm fronds and filled them with flowers for the church service. 

This will be followed by Good Friday, Sebt al Nour and Easter Sunday in the coming week. Watch our video on IG to learn how to make your own sh3nina!