Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus’ jubilant arrival into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, as the cheering crowds laid down cloaks and palm branches before him. The palm branch is a Roman symbol of victory.
As no palm trees grow in Britain, people used native trees instead such as pussy willow, hazel and box. ‘Going-a-palming’ to collect ‘palms’ was a joyous activity associated with hilltop fairs which were also popular today. The Irish gathered branches from fir, spruce and yew and those who spoke Irish knew today as Yew Sunday; Domhnach an Iuir. Each of these trees had its own symbolic meaning; yew for example symbolised eternal life. These ‘palms’ were taken to church in a procession and were blessed by the priest. People also wore sprigs of greenery in their hats and button holes and continued to wear them for the following fourteen days.
Some people kept the ‘palms’ for when they needed to perform a blessing and used the sprig to flick holy water over a person or place. Other people ground the ‘palms’ up and added them to their seed grain.
In northern England, ‘palm’ crosses were made from hazel and willow with the fluffy catkins being left on each end. These were tied and knotted with ribbons and resembled a St Andrew's cross (an X shape). In other regions it was the custom to tie these crosses with pink or blue ribbon. These protection and blessing charms were hung up in homes and barns but some people threw them into the local well. If the cross sank to the bottom then it was believed that the person would die soon and if the cross floated then the person was guaranteed to at least live until the following Palm Sunday. In Cornwall, greenery was also thrown into Our Lady of Nant’s well in Little Colan; a surviving relic from a pre-Christian rite and an offering to the guardian spirit of the well. If the offering floated then it had been well received and prosperity was sure to follow. If it sank then the water spirit was not impressed and was a sign of impending poverty or even death.
The 15th century tradition of sharing Pax Cakes and ale during the Palm Sunday mass can only be found in Herefordshire. The word ‘pax’ comes from the Latin meaning ‘peace’. The tradition still survives today with the blessing of ‘Peace and Good Neighbourhood’ being spoken by the vicar while handing out each cake. The cakes are very similar to shortbread biscuits and have an image of a lamb stamped on them. This tradition began with Thomas More who was a vicar at the churches of St Tysilio in Sellack and St John the Baptist in King’s Caple. He died in 1448 on Palm Sunday leaving money in his will for charitable causes. He willed that ‘bread and ale to the value of 6s 8p be distributed to all and singular in the aforementioned churches for the good of my soul.’ The Pax Cakes tradition survived the Reformation in spite of Henry VIII targeting charitable money. A century later, Lady Scudamore's family became benefactors and as the years passed it appears that different people contributed to the cause. From 1831 only Pax Cakes were distributed to the congregation due to the cost of ale. The third church that still practises this tradition today is St Dubricius in Hentland.
Just like Mothering Sunday, today was another welcome break from the self imposed hardships of Lent and a happy reminder that Easter was only a week away. Today our ancestors looked forward to enjoying themselves at their local Palm Sunday Fair. Interestingly, Palm Sunday Fairs often took place on top of hills, one example being Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, the largest man made mound in Europe. The villagers of Avebury, all dressed in greenery, would walk in procession to the top of Silbury Hill where they played games, ate fig cakes and drank sugared water and cider. No one knows the secret of this 4000 year old mound, but legend has it that King Sil is sitting on his gold horse inside it and dressed in golden armour. These hilltop festivals could very well be a relic from pre-Christian fire festivals that once took place on top of hills.
Another hilltop gathering that took place today was on Bidcombe Hill near Maiden Bradley in Wilshire. Villagers ate furmety, a wheaten porridge, around a hole on the hillside known as Furmety Hole. It was also eaten at Swallowhead Springs, an ancient sacred site, which is one of the sources of the river Kennet in north Wiltshire. A sweet drink was made by mixing spring water with sugar accompanied by a slice or two of fig cake.
In the Midlands, Palm Sunday was known as Spanish Sunday. Children would make their own drink out of broken pieces of Spanish liquorice, peppermint or lemon sweets and brown sugar which were added to a little water from a holy well. The concoction was then poured into a glass bottle on the eve of Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday morning, they went back to the holy well, walked around it once or even three times, then filled their bottles right up to the top. After shaking the bottles the mixture was ready to drink. In Derbyshire, the bottles were called Easter Monday bottles. The tradition at Lady’s Well, Finstock, Oxfordshire died out in the 1960s when shop bought sugary drinks became popular.
Today, the villagers of Leafield in Oxfordshire went into Wychwood Forest to Worts Well or Uzzle Well to fill up bottles containing a spoonful of brown sugar, a piece of liquorice and a piece of black peppermint with well water. This concoction was believed to be a cure-all. The parish church did not approve of this custom and would give small rewards to any child who went to church that day instead of visiting the well.
Children visited the Lady Wells at Great Hucklow and Castleton today and dropped straight pins into them. It was believed that if they did not do this then the ‘Lady of the Well’ would not give them any clean water for the whole year and that the bottles containing their concoction of oatmeal, sugar and water would break when they returned to fill them on Easter Monday.
Palm Sunday was also known as Fig Sunday or Fig Pudding Day due to lots of people eating figs today. Fig puddings and fig pies were eaten at midday and children were given small packets of dried fruit to remind them of the importance of this day. In Lancashire, people ate fig-suet made of ale, bread, figs and nutmeg which was boiled and eaten hot. In some parts of England, the fig tradition took place on Mid-Lent Sunday or Good Friday. Today was a reminder of the parable of Jesus cursing a barren fig tree which then withers and dies. The tradition of eating figs on Palm Sunday died out after World War II. Figs in this context were actually raisins.
It was believed that any seed planted today would be twice as bountiful and if a person walked amongst their crops straight after Palm Sunday mass then this would bless them. At Cheselbourne in Dorset, a woman all dressed in white would encircle crops, encouraging their growth and abundant harvest.
In Wales, today was known as Flowering Sunday named after the tradition of cleaning and decorating family graves with flowers and greenery ready for Easter. In Glamorgan, Scotland, this was done at Easter, Whitsun and Christmas. This was never really a tradition in England.
In Ireland, eggs that were ready to hatch were marked today with a cross using a charred ‘palm’ branch and children began collecting eggs from friends and neighbours ready for Easter.
The Irish believed that if Palm Sunday fell on St Patrick’s day, then something unexpected would happen. Thankfully, this was a good omen and the same for Palm Sunday falling on the Feast Of the Annunciation which is on 25th March.
I had absolutely no knowledge of all of these wonderful customs that were once enjoyed on Palm Sunday and many of which were likely relics from much older spring fertility rites.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
achurchnearyou.com (pax cakes)
English Traditional Customs by Christina Hole (1975)
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A Calendar Of Scottish National Festivals Vol 2 by F. Marian McNeill (1959)
The Year In Ireland by Kevin Danaher (1972) free on archive.org
Maypoles, Martyrs & Mayhem by Quentin Cooper and Paul Sullivan (1994)
The Stations Of The Sun by Ronald Hutton (1996)
The Celtic Calendar by Brian Day (2003)
A Dictionary Of British Folk Customs by Christina Hole (1976)
Winters In The World by Eleanor Parker (2022)
A Chronicle Of Folk Customs by Brian Day (1998)