13/04/2025
Easter traditions in Moldova 🇲🇩
🕯The Feast of Flowers unites faith with tradition, marking the approach of Easter and is popularly known as Palm Sunday.
🌺Palm Sunday celebrates flowers, personified on this day, while the Christian Church overlays it with the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
🌿Blessed willow branches from Palm Sunday are used in various ways: decorating crosses, graves, shrines, windows, doors, and gates of homes.
🪔During the Roman Empire, the Jewish celebration merged with a similar Roman spring festival—Floralia or Florilia (dedicated to Flora, the goddess of spring). Hence, the popular name “Floriile.”
📌Some traditional practices for Palm Sunday include:
- Avoiding major work
- Ritual washing with water or dew
- Airing clothes
- Gathering medicinal herbs
- Caring for flowers
- Removing “mărțișoare” from the chest
- Sharing bread rolls
- Distributing budding willow branches
💬Most traditions revolve around willow branches brought on Lazarus Saturday, symbolizing the arrival of warm seasons and annual renewal.
🪄In some regions, women prepare herbal decoctions on Palm Sunday to dye Easter eggs.
Source: Nicolae Băieșu, *Royal Holidays. Vol. I.*
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Photo credit: Lower Prut Meadow 🌟 (Willow Garland Tradition on the Prut River)
