We celebrate the Bendita Sa Lukay (Palm Sunday) which marks the beginning of a significant Christian religious tradition, the Semana Santa, and the culmination of the Cuaresma (Lent).
Palm Sunday commemorates the day when Jesus together with his disciples entered Jerusalem and was greeted by multitudes of people with palms on their hands waving at him. In the present time, the faithful in an expression of devotion to the cross attends mass bringing coconut fronds and leaves fashioned into crosses to be blessed by the priest. These palm leaves called Lukay will be tucked on doors and placed on family altars with the local belief to ward off evil. The dried lukay is then collected and burned to be used by the church for Ash Wednesday the next year.
You may want to read: