Palm Sunday around the world
Christians around the world are marking Palm Sunday by waving fronds, attending church services and visiting sites in the Holy Land at the start of the Holy Week that ends with Easter.
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- Monsignor Dario de Jesus Monsalve enters the church during the procession of the Palm Sunday celebrations in Cali, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on March 29, 2015. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Four area churches from different denominations mark Palm Sunday with a community-wide blessing of the palms in the parking lot at the intersection of Fenn and Pearl Streets in Pittsfield, Mass. on Sunday, March, 29, 2015. All of the palms are Eco-Palms which were sustainably grown and harvested in Guatamala and Mexico. Palm Sunday begins the Christian season of Holy Week. (AP Photo/The Berkshire Eagle, Gillian Jones)
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- About 25 St. Patrick’s Church parish children proceed into the church carrying palms during the Palm Sunday service at the church in Pottsville, Pa., on Sunday, March 29, 2015. From left are, Quinn Evans, 7, Norwegian Township, Ryan Devine, 7, Pottsville, Pa., and Joseph Rossi, 9, of Pottsville, Pa. The children are from the Saint Patrick’s Religious Education Program and the Assumption BVM school. (AP Photo/The Republican-Herald, Andy Matsko)
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- Members of the congregation raise their hands in celebration and prayer during a sermon at the Banner of Life bible church in the mainly Christian Sabon Gari neighborhood of Kano, northern Nigeria on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015. Many churches in the area were only half-full on Sunday, due to large numbers of Christians leaving before the elections, fearing violence and retribution after election results will be announced in the predominantly Muslim town. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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- An Assyrian man carries his daughter on his shoulders as she holds a candle in front of the Assyrian church, background, during the traditional Palm Sunday procession, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 29, 2015. In late February, the Islamic State group took captive more than 220 Christians from villages in Syria’s northeastern province of Hassakeh. Some 19 have been freed. Since that incident, scores of Assyrian Christians from Hassakeh have fled to safety in neighboring Lebanon, that has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East. Streams of Christian pilgrims gathered Sunday to celebrate the path of Jesus Christ’s last journey into Jerusalem, when his followers laid palm branches in his path, before his crucifixion. Streams of Christian pilgrims gathered Sunday to celebrate the path of Jesus Christ’s last journey into Jerusalem, when his followers laid palm branches in his path, before his crucifixion. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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- An Indian Christian devotee makes a cross with palm leaves after she arrived for the Palm Sunday mass at a Church in Mumbai, India, Sunday, March 29, 2015. Christians comprise 2 percent of India’s more than 1.2 billion people. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
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- Indian Christians hold palm leaves at a mass to mark Palm Sunday in Bhubaneswar, India, Sunday, March 29, 2015. Christians comprise 2 percent of India’s more than 1.2 billion people. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout)
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- Believers carry a cross during heavy rain at the Palm Sunday procession in the old town of Heiligenstadt, central Germany, Sunday, March 29, 2015. The procession takes place with life-size figures from the Passion of Christ and under the presence of several thousand people. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
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- A Nigerian man prays in the yard of the St Charles Catholic Church, scene of a 2014 bomb attack blamed on Boko Haram Islamic insurgents, in the mainly Christian Sabon Gari neighborhood of Kano, northern Nigeria on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015. Normally the church would be packed with up to four masses on Palm Sunday, but this year it held only one which was half-full, due to large numbers of Christians leaving before the elections, fearing violence and retribution after election results will be announced in the predominantly Muslim town. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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- Members of the Borriquita brotherhood hold palm leaves during celebrations marking the Christian feast of Palm Sunday in Sevilla on March 29, 2014. Palm Sunday held annually on the Sunday before Easter and commemorates the entry into Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. (Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images)
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- An altar boy carries a cross after the morning Mass at the Cathedral of San Cristobal de La Laguna during a procession commemorating the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife on March 29, 2015. Palm Sunday held annually on the Sunday before Easter and commemorates the entry into Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. (Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Catholic nun carries a palm branch during the traditional Palm Sunday procession from Mt. Olives to Jerusalem’s Old City on May 29, 2015. The ceremony is a landmark in the Christian calendar, marking the triumphant return of Christ to Jerusalem the week before his death, when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves. Palm Sunday marks the start of the most solemn week in the Christian calendar. (Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A member of the Borriquita brotherhood adjusts his hood during celebrations marking the Christian feast of Palm Sunday in Sevilla on March 29, 2014. Palm Sunday held annually on the Sunday before Easter and commemorates the entry into Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. (Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Pope Francis waves to the faithful as he leaves St. Peter’s Square at the the end of Palm Sunday Mass on March 29, 2015 in Vatican City, Vatican. On Palm Sunday Christians celebrate Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem, where he was put to death. It marks the official beginning of Holy Week during which Christians observe the death of Christ before celebrations begin on Easter. (Franco Origlia/Getty Images)
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- A faithful participates in a mass held as part of the Palm Sunday celebrations in Cali, Valle del Cauca department, Colombia, on March 29, 2015. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)
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- An indigenous woman prepares to take part in the Palm Sunday procession on March 29, 2015 in San Pedro Sacatepequez, 30 km west of Guatemala City. (Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Detail of the flower carpet made for the traditional Palm Sunday procession on March 29, 2015 in San Pedro Sacatepequez, 30 km west of Guatemala City. (Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Members of the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus brotherhood carry an image of Jesus Christ during the traditional Palm Sunday procession on March 29, 2015 in San Pedro Sacatepequez, 30 km west of Guatemala City. (Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Catholic faithful take part the Palm Sunday procession on March 29, 2015 in San Pedro Sacatepequez, 30 km west of Guatemala City. (Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Franciscan friar carry palm branch during the traditional Palm Sunday procession from Mt. Olives to Jerusalem’s Old City on May 29, 2015. The ceremony is a landmark in the Christian calendar, marking the triumphant return of Christ to Jerusalem the week before his death, when a cheering crowd greeted him waving palm leaves. Palm Sunday marks the start of the most solemn week in the Christian calendar. (Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Girls hold palm leaves blessed during the morning Mass at the Cathedral of San Cristobal de La Laguna during a procession commemorating the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife on March 29, 2015. Palm Sunday held annually on the Sunday before easter and commemorates the entry into Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. (Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Shadows are cast on the street as people holding palm and olive branches blessed during the morning Mass at the Cathedral of San Cristobal de La Laguna walk during a procession commemorating the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife on March 29, 2015. Palm Sunday held annually on the Sunday before Easter and commemorates the entry into Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. (Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images)
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- People hold palm and olive branches blessed during the morning Mass at the Cathedral of San Cristobal de La Laguna during a procession commemorating the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife on March 29, 2015. Palm Sunday held annually on the Sunday before easter and commemorates the entry into Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. (Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A woman takes holds palm and olive branches blessed during the morning Mass at the Cathedral of San Cristobal de La Laguna during a procession commemorating the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem, on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife on March 29, 2015. Palm Sunday held annually on the Sunday before Easter and commemorates the entry into Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. (Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Belarus’ Catholics pray on a hill with wooden crosses while celebrating Palm Sunday in the town of Oshmiany, some 130 kilometers northwest of Minsk, on March 29, 2015. (Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images)
Crowds of faithful gathered in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Many waved the fronds to symbolize how worshippers greeted Jesus over 2,000 years ago as he triumphantly returned to Jerusalem.
Later in the day, hundreds of Christian pilgrims are expected to march behind a white donkey from the Mount of Olives to the holy city, retracing Jesus’ traditional route into Jerusalem.
Worshippers also gathered in the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, the traditional site of Jesus’ birth, clutching olive branches and bouquets as they sung in praise.
At the Vatican, Pope Francis marked Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. In keeping with the simple tone of his 2-year-old papacy, Francis leaned on a plain wooden pastoral staff instead of a traditionally more ornate one as he stood under a red canopy on the basilica steps.
In Nigeria, the faithful attended church a day after millions voted in a presidential election too close to call, many praying for peace after violence marred its 2011 poll.
Christians also prayed in religiously diverse Lebanon as well, some of those refugees who have fled Syria’s four-year conflict. — Associated Press
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