CATHOLICS from across Georgetown and as far as Diamond on the East Bank Demerara took to the roads for the procession yesterday to join their Christian brothers and sisters around the world in observance of Palm Sunday as they ushered in the Holy Week celebrations that will culminate in Easter.Yesterday’s event marked the seventh year for a joint Palm Sunday Mass held at the Georgetown Cricket Club Ground (GCC), Bourda, for Catholics in commemoration of the occasion. Processions from various parishes culminated at the GCC with singing of hymns and bearing of palms.

This year, the symbolic blessing of the palms was done at the respective churches before the beginning of the procession, which saw parishioners from St Teresa’s (Campbellville), Our Lady of the Mount (Meadow Bank), Sacred Heart (Main Street), Our Lady of Fatima (Bourda), St Pius X (East LaPenitence), Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Brickdam), Holy Spirit (North Ruimveldt)and Our Lady of the Rosary (Kitty) walked from their place of worship to the GCC.
As a symbol of their faith and devotion, many Christians keep the palm crosses, which are distributed during Palm Sunday services, and hang them in their homes throughout the year.
The day marked the end of the Lenten fast for Catholics and Anglicans alike, and the beginning of the most solemn and important week in their calendar, Holy Week.
The week commences on what is traditionally called Palm Sunday, which is one of the most important days in the Christian calendar. This final Sunday before Easter, Christians remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, cheered on by palm-waving crowds, in church services around the country.
On Thursday of the Holy week in the Roman Catholic Church, the ritual washing of feet is now associated with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which celebrates in a special way the Last Supper of Jesus, before which he washed the feet of his twelve apostles. Evidence for the practice on this day goes back at least to the latter half of the twelfth century, when the Pope washed the feet of twelve sub-deacons after his Mass and of thirteen poor men after his dinner.
Good commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday proceeding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of ‘The Passover’.
Common Palm Sunday observances include processions with palm branches, the blessing of the palms (which will be burned and used next Ash Wednesday), and the construction of small palm crosses.

By Rebecca Ganesh