www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall A Blessed Flowery Sunday (Kvitku Nedilju)!

May everyone on this Forum have a blessed Flowery Sunday as we celebrate Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. "O Son of God, Who sat upon a colt, save us who sing to You: Alleluia!"

Alex, (sound of a willow hitting on the back) It wasn't I who struck you, it was the willow who struck you!

Ung-Certez

Ung, in Poland, The Great Feast of the Entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem is known as "Niedziela Palmowa," but it was even better known as "Niedziela Kwietna" (floral Sunday) because pussywillows, often embellished with evergreens and/or boxwood, or rod-type wildflower bouquets were blessed in churches instead of palms, which were not available. "Bazie" or "Kotki" are the pussy willow branches cut several weeks ahead and placed in water so they sprout their furry, little buds by Palm Sunday. According to one folk custom, swallowing one of the buds was said to ensure health all year.

Parishioners processed with the palms through the streets around the parish, celebrating the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Many Polish regions craft a special floral stick in lieu of or in addition to the palms. These are also blessed and carried in procession like palms.

If you have never been in a Polish RC church on a Good Friday, you will be surprised to see something that resembles our "plaschanitza" or "epitaphios." A life-size figure of Christ lying in His tomb in churches is visited by the faithful from the time of the Good Friday Liturgy throughout Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil. The tableaux includes flowers, candles, figures of angels standing watch, three crosses, etc. Each parish strives to come up with the most artistically and religiously evocative arrangement in which the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance, draped in a filmy veil, is prominently displayed on the tomb.

OrthodoxEast

The description of the pussywillows strikes a memory at my grandparents house that was long forgotten.

Pokoj,

James

Dear friends:

If I am not mistaken, Palm Sunday is until 20 april, next week.

Snoopy ,

Depends on the Calendar -

New Calendar was certainly yesterday and I have my Palm Cross to prove it.

Anhelyna

Anhelyna (Slave of Love)<<New Calendar was certainly yesterday and I have my Palm Cross to prove it.>>

Actually, Anhelyna, to be more accurate, "Gregorian" Calendar Palm Sunday was yesterday. This coming Sunday, Palm Sunday will be observed by both "Old" (i.e., Julian) and "Revised Julian" (i.e., Old Calendar Paschalion, but Gregorian Calendar for "fixed" feasts) Calendarists. Count me among the latter.

So, to make a long calendar short, I won't get my mix of blessed palms and willows until April 20.

OrthodoxEast

Dear Ung-Certez,

Thank you!

I"ll remember that this coming Sunday!

Actually, the pussy-willows were favoured NOT because palm fronds weren't available.

The pussy-willow was venerated by pagan Slavs long before Christianity and was one of those traditions that received a Christian interpretation.

The bursting of the bud in the pussy-willow represented the Resurrection of Christ and so this explains its use in East Slavic lands especially.

One may make three-Bar Crosses from pussy-willow branches that are shorn of their buds and then glued together for placement in one's icon corner until Palm Sunday next.

A great Slavic cultural tradition that celebrates Christ's Resurrection!

Alex

Oh now this is just not fair - not at all.

It has taken me long enough to sort out New and Old being one of those curious Latin folk but here we have the combination
.

And I am about to go to Lourdes where the Ukies are very definitely New and here in the UK they are Old.

Is it any wonder that from time to time I scratch my head ,start running in decreasing circles, scream and shout saying " Will I ever understand?"

Anhelyna :p

Dear Anhelyna,

The point is that the Easter calculation has really nothing to do with the Old or New Calendars - it is an independent thing.

This is why one may follow the Gregorian or New Calendar and yet celebrate Easter on the same date as those following the Old Calendar.

In fact, those following the New Calendar but who use the traditional Easter calculation, defined by the First Ecumenical Council, are the "Reformed Julian Calendarists."

All those Orthodox who follow the New Calendar still adhere to the old calculation for Pascha, as to do otherwise would be to break a canonical rule established by an Ecumenical Council.

I've never understood why Eastern Catholics following the New Calendar don't adhere to the traditional Paschal calculation.

Alex

Dear Friends,

I guess I will never understand why some things are ahead of their time. Or why some things are always behind the times?

Doesn't the calculation of Easter start from the time of the Vernal Equinox? Is not that time the same, but fall on a different date, depending on whether the Julian or Gregorian calendar is used?
March 20th, Gregorian, would be March 7th, Julian. The date is different, but the equinox would happen on that day.

I understand the Western calculation of Easter, the first Sunday after the first full moon after the equinox. Could someone please explain the Eastern? Especially since they have a common date in some years.

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

Dear John,

Actually, Brendan the Theologian is back with us, I've seen a post from him.

He once explained all this and perhaps we can ask him to do so once again for all our benefit.

He knows everything!

Alex

Dear Alex,

Not quite.

The difference in the East/West Easter calculation is due more than anything else to the disputed date of the equinox (March 21). I posted at length about this recently, perhaps you or another can find that. It was substantiated with lots of links.

The (autonomous) Finnish Orthodox Church follows the new calendar and the new calendar (Western if you prefer) Paschalion. There are other places where this is happening as well.

Also, some of the Oriental Orthodox Churches follow the new calendar Paschalion.

To all those who are journeying with our Lord to His saving Passion this week, I wish you a good journey to a bright Pascha!

Tony

Dear Tony,

Then how can someone following the "Reformed Julian Calendar" celebrate the same Easter Date as those on the Old Calendar?

Also, isn't celebrating the New paschal date breaking a cardinal rule (no pun intended) established by an Ecumenical Council?

Alex

Alex,

Look at this thread again.

And, to which "cardinal rule established by an Ecumenical Council" do you refer?

Tony

Alex,

In an earlier post today you said: So to what do you refer when you say "the traditional Easter calculation?" Since you said in the same post: Old calendar certainly seems to equal "the traditional Easter calculation" in that post.

Tony