the last week of lent.
abstinence from flesh is commanded for this week
and absolute fast on friday and sunday.
some churches bare their altars of candles, flowers, and other devotional offerings.
crucifixes, religious statues, and other elaborate religious paraphernalia
are often veiled in violet fabrics.
- Lazarus Saturday:
the first day of Holy Week.
- Palm Sunday, Yew Sunday, Branch Sunday, Passion Sunday:
the sunday before easter.
jesus' triumphal entry as the Prince of Peace into jerusalem
was symbolized by his riding a donkey, an animal of peace, in eastern tradition,
versus the horse, which is the animal of war.
it was customary to cover in some way the path
of someone thought worthy of the highest honour,
so the celebrating people lay cloaks and waving palm branches in front of him.
in jewish tradition, palm is a symbol of triumph and victory.
to commemorate this, christians distribute palm leaves
(often tied into crosses) to the assembled worshipers.
the difficulty procuring palm,
led to the substitution of boughs of box, yew, willow, olive (peace
or other native trees.
this mass itself includes a reading of the passion
christians in the 16/17th centuries, would burn and stone straw Jack-'o'-Lent figures,
as a kind of revenge on judas.
- Holy Monday, Great and Holy Monday:
overall, not a very good day for jesus.
(and you thought your mondays were bad?)
notable and recognizable biblical events of this day were...
... cursing of the fig tree –
so, jesus has his triumphal return into jerusalem the day before,
and then on monday, as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.
Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit.
When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs(!).
so Jesus cursed it for being barren; “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”
the next morning, the tree turned withering and fruitless,
and became a symbol of his judgment;
that will befall those who do not bring forth the fruits of repentance
"if you do not forgive, then neither will the lord forgive your trespasses"
(i like to call this story; The Fig Tree Fiasco!
and while it's interesting,
it's one of those things that's become a symbol
of a symbol, of a symbol, of a lesson)
right after that came...
...cleansing of the temple -
This is the only account of Jesus using physical force in any of the Gospels.
that must have been really shocking to see.
i mean, he went NUTS.
"And Jesus went into the temple of God,
and cast out all of them who sold and bought in the temple,
and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers,
and the seats of them that sold doves,
And said unto them,
'My house shall be called the house of prayer;
but ye have made it a den of thieves!' " -Matthew 21:12-13
right after that came...
...questioning of Jesus' authority –
the chief priests and the elders of the people came to jesus in the temple, and asked,
"By what authority are you doing these things?
And who gave you this authority?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Sunday
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Monday
http://blueeyedennis-siempre.blogspot.com/2011/04/palm-sunday.html