CAIRO: Churches across the Middle East celebrated Palm Sunday this year with traditional customs, which included vendors selling palm fronds near churches.
Sunday was celebrated as Palm Sunday in Egypt and at many Eastern churches in the Middle East. The holy week leads in Egypt to the Coptic Orthodox Easter, which takes place on April 12, a week after Easter in Europe.
Vendors craft the fronds into religious shapes such as crowns and crosses, and other forms like hearts.
Egyptians have valued palm fronds since ancient times, skillfully crafting them in a variety of ways. Palm fronds and olive branches symbolize peace.
Christians attend Mass carrying palm branches to commemorate Christ’s reception in Jerusalem, where people welcomed him with palms.
Arab News toured the streets around the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo and found hundreds of vendors displaying palm fronds, both as artistic creations and in their original form.
Tony, a palm vendor in Shubra, a district of Cairo, told Arab News: “Every year we start selling palm fronds three days before Palm Sunday, shaping them into artistic designs such as crosses and crowns.
“This is my 10th year in Shubra selling them and teaching young people and children how to craft these artistic forms from palm fronds.”
A palm frond, or palm branch, is the leaf of a palm tree, featuring a feather-like shape, coarse texture, and pointed tips.
Kamal Zakher, an Egyptian writer specializing in Coptic history, told Arab News that palm fronds symbolized peace and victory.
For Christians in Egypt, special social customs include gathering as a family before Mass to shape palm fronds and prepare for holy week.
Zakher said: “The interest in palm fronds in Egyptian celebration traditions stems from the extensive cultivation of palm trees.”
The Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated Palm Sunday with Pope Tawadros, the pope of Alexandria and patriarch of the See of St. Mark, presiding over Mass at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria.
St. Anthony’s Church, a Latin Catholic church in Cairo, prepared for holy week with its annual choir. Sherif Samir, who leads St. Anthony’s choir, told Arab News that all ages participate in the choir at Easter, their voices celebrating the occasion while adding to the atmosphere at the special time for the community.
