PALM SUNDAY

Palm Sunday, the sixth and last Sunday of Lent, is the beginning of Holy Week. The Catholic community in Goa celebrate the day with great solemnity. Young children beautifully decorate new shoots of coconut palm leaves and take them to church to have them blessed. The celebration recalls the solemn entry of Christ into Jerusalem. After attending Mass and special prayer services in the church, children return to their homes and distribute the leaves to the people in their villages.

Palm Sunday

At the triple chimes

Of village church bell,

We rose up early and saw

In the serene stillness before the dawn

The bright morning star in the East

Right above the sky’s edge;

And as we turned our gaze

Southwards above the horizon

Saw the constellation

Called the Southern Cross.

Twinkling just above the backyard hedge.

Too dark and early we thought

To pluck the new shoot

Of the coconut palm leaf;

So while some of us lay in wait

My siblings went back to sleep;

As the sky lightened a little bit

We saw the palm

And cut it in right earnest

With the last shooting star of the night

Hastily streaking towards the west.

Somewhere nearby

The cock crew

Heralding the early morn

With its wakeup call;

And a sudden rustle

As the first bird of the day took flight

From the mango tree

Up my spine sent a slight chill.

Careful were we

Not to rip the young palm open;

We decorated it the best we could

In the light of the early morning dawn;

Then donning our Sunday best

Onwards we walked

To the Church to have it blessed;

Returned home

With the sun up and bright

and proudly we handed over

the holy strands of the palm

To the old folks

In the village

Still busy by the fireside

They thanked, blessed and offered

as a reward

a cup of tea in return

Intoning the timeless saying:

“God bless you my son”.