Goa observes Palm Sunday!

The holy season of Lent is about to come to an end and it is the last week in the 40 day period of penance. The period ends with the day of Easter which is preceded by religious rituals such as Palm Sunday followed by Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.

Palm Sunday is a symbolic remembrance of the day when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem just before Passover, the Jews waved the palm branches to welcome him. Goa observed Palm Sunday today when the priest representing Jesus is followed into the Church by people with palm fronds. Earlier people are given  the palm fronds when they come to the Church and some even weave the fronds into decorative crosses.

Later in the week, the faithful observe Maundy Thursday when they symbolically recreate the last supper of Jesus and 12 men are chosen to be his disciples. During the mass, the priest removes his vestment, ties a white cloth around his waist  and bends down to wash and clean the feet of the 12 men.