How to make Palm Sunday branches

Today is Palm Sunday, and in our family we have always prepared for Easter by making Palm Sunday branches or an Easter tree.....now my children are getting older (teens) we will plan to bake bread, but we will always have wonderful memories of making our branches and then hanging our handpainted eggs from them.

 First find a suitable pot and two sticks, then bind the sticks together with wool to form a cross, and place in pot with soil and rocks to create a stable support.

Using florists wire, bind greenery around the cross to symbolise the life and resurrection.

 Place an orange on the cross to symbolise the sun and the life forces.  And a dough rooster on top.  The rooster of course relates to the cock crowing three times when Peter denied Christ, and the rooster who calls in the dawn of the first Easter Sunday.  You can then hang painted eggs from the branches.  We have also used streamers in red, orange and gold, and cotton threaded with dried fruits, as decorations.

 Our dough roosters, all ready for the oven.

 Out of the oven, all nice, fat and golden.

Full instructions for Palm Sunday branches can be found in Festivals with Children.

May you enjoy the richness of Holy Week and Easter with your families.