Donkey walk

The donkey walk and the Great Blessing of Waters on Epiphany were the two most important Russian court ceremonies, emphasizing the tsar's respect for the Eastern Orthodox Church,[1] projecting an image (not necessarily true) of harmony in politics.

Here is, also, the main muscovite marketplace: the trading square is built as a brick rectangle, with twenty lanes on each side where the merchants have their shops and cellars...Templum S. Trinitatis, etiam Hierusalem dicitur; ad quo Palmarum fest Patriarcha asino insidens a Caesare introducitur.Temple of Holy Trinity, also called Jerusalem, to where the tsar leads the Patriarch, sitting on a donkey, on the Palm Holiday.Mikhail Petrovich Kudryavtsev [ru] noted that all cross processions of the period began, as described by Petreius, from the Dormition Cathedral, passed through St. Frol's (Saviour's) Gate and ended at Trinity Cathedral, popularly known simply as Jerusalem.

[11] Nikon, still the head of Russian Orthodox Church, banished Pitirim from his seat and bitterly reprimanded Alexis I of Russia as an accomplice in "promiscuity of spirit".

[11] He wrote that for him riding the donkey was a fearful act of being a living icon of Christ himself, a deed and burden that only the Head of Church may bear.

Olearius left an account of the procession starting at Lobnoye Mesto (incorrectly called Execution Place but in reality only a platform for public announcements) and proceeding into the Saviour's Gate of the Kremlin.

The procession was led by a wagon carrying "a beautiful tree whose branches are hung with apples and various other treats" and six boys singing Hosanna.

[18] Saint Petersburg officially debuted the tradition on Palm Sunday 2014[19] with the civil and Orthodox leaders of the city in the leading roles.