Let’s Get Creative With Our Palms: Updated for 2023

Sunday, April 10th 2022, is Palm Sunday and many from liturgical traditions are already thinking about making palm crosses. We love to process around the church waving our palm fronds. But after the service, the crosses and fronds are quickly discarded and the meaning of the season just as quickly fades from our memories.

This year, you might like to consider doing something creative with those fronds. Don’t throw them out, weave them into larger crosses and Easter symbols that can decorate your sacred space throughout the year as a reminder of this pivotal season of our faith. Then, when Ash Wednesday comes around next year and you want to burn those crosses, you will be able to make a substantial fire.

Here are some inspiring links and Youtube videos that might help you be creative with your own palm fronds.

Catholic Icing shares 10 Things to do with Palms for Palm Sunday. Great ideas for kids to get involved as well.

If you are curious how other cultures around the world celebrate Palm Sunday, take a look at CBC Kid’s.

Minas Thomas has created a whole series of videos on palm weaving from a Coptic Christian perspective that are well worth viewing. He instructs us on everything from a simple cross to braiding of palm fronds and, a more complex Coptic cross and a donkey. Here is the link to the first video:

Here is a beautiful video of a man teaching his grandkids how to make a palm heart, something I definitely plan to try with this year’s palm fronds.

And last, but definitely not least, I also love this video from Michael Nabil – a little more complex and requiring a little construction ability but I would love to give it a go.

More resources for Holy Week:

• Resources for Palm Sunday
• Resources for Maundy Thursday
• Resources for Good Friday
• Resources for Celebrating Holy Week With Kids
• Resources for Easter Sunday 
• Kid Resources for Easter