Christian faithful in Nigeria today joined their counterparts all over the world to celebrate the Palm Sunday.
Each armed with their palm fronds offering processional hymes, these Christians marched through the Ilupeju area of Lagos state singing and dancing, the ceremony they say symbolises the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels.
In most liturgical churches Palm Sunday is celebrated by the blessing and distribution of palm branches or the branches of other native trees representing the palm branches the crowd scattered in front of Christ as he rode into Jerusalem.
The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after these substitute trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday.
