Palm Sunday, one week before Easter Sunday, is the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Thus fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah. It is the day He officially entered as the Messiah and his followers and believers waved palm branches as he rode into the city. I have written here about ideas and activities for celebrating Palm Sunday. See Matthew 21:1-11.
We have a wooden “Advent Spiral”, traditionally used in Waldorf Education for celebrating Advent leading up to Christmas, as well as for birthday celebrations. Last year I thought, “If Easter is as important (if not more so) than Christmas, why not have an Easter “Advent” as well? So while we didn’t use it for the entire month leading up to Easter Sunday as is traditional with Christmas Advent, we used it throughout Holy Week adding one candle each day, beginning with Palm Sunday. The tiny “Christus” statue can be purchased for only a few dollars here. I added artificial lillies to go along with the scripture in Matthew 6 verses 28 – 34 (similar verses are also found in 3 Nephi 13 of the Book of Mormon and section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants) which says:
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
So in other words, you are of infinite worth. God knows you. God loves you. Have faith. Seek righteousness and the kingdom of God above all else. For this purpose Jesus Christ came into the world, suffered for your sins, felt all of your anguish, and you can be forgiven, healed from hurt, and live forever with Him.
Hence the lillies.
“Consider the lillies” video:
Palm Sunday Activities
Being a very musical family, we often spend the morning of Palm Sunday not only going to church but participating in Palm Sunday musical numbers at church. For the last several years, our ward primary has sung “Gethsemane” by Melanie Hoffman on Palm Sunday. In our family we also love listening to Handel’s Messiah as a way to get in the mood for Holy Week. Most often, Handel’s Messiah is sung by choirs at Christmas time, however, at least half of this work is actually more about his later life and the Second Coming than it is about His birth.
After the Palm Sunday meeting at church, we come home and turn on my Easter music playlist while we make handprint palm branches. We use:
- paint sticks
- green paper
- scissors
- glue
- child’s hands
Another activity we did on Palm Sunday last year (although I didn’t get a picture) is making an “Easter Tree”. Although I love the symbolism of the evergreen at Christmas and feel it fits just as well (if not more so) with Easter, I didn’t want to just recycle the Christmas tree idea so instead, we got artificial olive branches from our local craft store and a ceramic vase/pot. We stuck the olive branches in some green floral arrangement foam to look like a tree.
In the future I might try foraging for a willow branch or something (or Russian Olive?? Except I’m pretty sure I’m allergic to those) to use as the tree base and then adding our olive branches (AKA “grafting” our branches into the tree like in Jacob 5 & 1 Nephi 15:16). We like to go on Sunday walks by the river so this year we plan to add “tree foraging” to our Palm Sunday walk.
We then made “names of Christ” ornaments to hang on it. Last year we made them out of salt dough but they were really heavy on our little olive branches, this year I think we will make them out of paper. However, with that being said, “heavy” ornaments weighing down the olive branches could be an object lesson in and of itself… possibly an activity and scripture story to go with Passover Thursday about Gethsemane…
Resurrection Eggs:
Each day of Holy Week we open a new “Resurrection Egg”. Inside the first egg on Palm Sunday, is a small donkey figure and a little palm leaf, with a strip of paper that says “Matthew 21:1-11”. This is where we will read the scripture for the day and use the tiny objects as a way to engage the younger kids.
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