The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to the substitution of branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew.

According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ rode on a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there laid down their cloaks and small branches of trees in front of him, singing part of Psalm 118: 25–26[21] – Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

In the synoptics the people are described as laying their garments and cut rushes on the street, whereas John specifies fronds of palm (Greek phoinix).

[24] In the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire, which strongly influenced Christian tradition, the palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory.

[29] Although the Epistles of Paul refer to Jesus as "triumphing", the entry into Jerusalem may not have been regularly pictured as a triumphal procession in this sense before the 13th century.

[32] Palm Sunday, or the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem as it may be called in Orthodox Churches, is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year.

Whatever the kind, these branches are blessed and distributed together with candles either during the All-Night Vigil on the Eve of the Feast (Saturday night), or before the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning.

The Great Entrance of the Divine Liturgy commemorates the "Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem", so the meaningfulness of this moment is punctuated on Palm Sunday as everyone stands, holding their branches and lit candles.

Originally, Moscow processions began inside the Kremlin and terminated at Trinity Church, now known as Saint Basil's Cathedral.

The vestments for the day are deep scarlet red, the colour of blood, indicating the supreme redemptive sacrifice Christ was entering the city to make, to fulfill his passion and resurrection in Jerusalem.

People with flower-related names (e.g., Bilyan(a), Liliya, Margarita, Nevena, Ralitsa, Rosa, Temenuzhka, Tsvetan(a), Tsvetelin(a), Tsvetin(a), Tsvetko, Violeta, Yavor, Zdravko, Zjumbjul, etc.)

It is customary for the children to chant, with some variation, "Virvon varvon tuoreeks, terveeks, tulevaks vuodeks, vitsa sulle, palkka mulle!

Indian Orthodoxy traces its roots to the arrival in India of Saint Thomas the Apostle (traditionally dated to AD 52) and his evangelism among both the Brahmans of the Malabar Coast and the ancient Jewish community there.

"[47][48] The historian Patrick Weston Joyce noted that yew was always called "palm" in his 1830s childhood, and he only later learned the tree's correct name.

According to tradition, on the Saturday before Palm Sunday the Lithuanians take special care in choosing and cutting well-formed branches, which the women-folk decorate with flowers.

[citation needed] In Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria, Palm Sunday (Shaa'nineh in Arabic) Is perhaps the best-attended liturgy in the Christian Calendar, among the Orthodox, Catholic (Latin and Eastern), and Anglican Churches, perhaps because it is notably a family occasion.

Also, there will be carefully woven crosses and other symbols made from palm fronds and roses and a procession at the beginning of the liturgy, during which at some point, the priest will take an olive branch and splash holy water on the faithful.

[citation needed] In the Saxon regions of the Netherlands, crosses are decorated with candy and bread, made in the form of a rooster.

In the Diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden, a great procession with oil lamps is held the night before Palm Sunday in honour of the Sorrowful Mother of Warfhuizen.

In the Philippines, a statue of Christ riding a donkey (the Humenta), or the presiding priest on horseback, is brought to the local church in a morning procession.

Congregants line the route, waving palaspás (ornately woven palm branches) and spreading tapis (heirloom "aprons" made for this ritual) in imitation of the excited Jerusalemites.

At the church parvise, a house, or the town plaza, children dressed as angels scatter flowers as they sing the day's antiphon Hosanna Filio David in the vernacular and to traditional tunes.

The Church teaches that this is a sign of welcoming Christ into the home, but folk belief holds that the blessed palaspás are apotropaic, deterring evil spirits, lightning, and fires.

Another folk custom is to feed pieces of blessed palaspás to roosters used in sabong (cockfighting); this was strongly discouraged by the Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

[54] In other provinces, the flowers strewn by the angels during the procession are added to the rice seeds being planted, in the belief that these will ensure a bountiful harvest.

Many Polish towns and villages (the best known are Lipnica Murowana in Lesser Poland and Łyse in Mazovia) organize artificial palm competitions.

[59] A Spanish rhyming proverb states: Domingo de Ramos, quien no estrena algo, se le caen las manos ("On Palm Sunday, the hands drop off of those who fail to wear something new").

Welsh cemetery cleaning and decoration traditions may have begun as an Easter celebration before becoming more commonly associated with Palm Sunday.

[62] Richard Warner attested in 1797 "the ornamenting of the graves of the deceased with various plants and flowers, at certain seasons, by the surviving relatives" and noted that Easter was the most popular time for this tradition.

By 1803, Malkin's observations in "The Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography of South Wales from materials collected during two excursions in the year 1803" reflect the shift away predominantly associating the custom with Easter.