Oshana Nhayarazhcha (Palm Sunday) celebrations at St Joseph's Cathedral
at Palayam in Thiruvananthapuram which is celebrating its 125th anniversary.
In some parts of the state the feast is also called Kurutholapperunnal
- feast of the tender palm fronds (kuruthola), blessed and distributed
by the priest. A ceremonial procession around the church, with people
holding the palm leaves and singing hosanna forms the highlight of
the day's ceremony. The fifty day abstinence or Lent period is observed
in Kerala as in other parts of the world. On Ash Wednesday (karikkuripperunnal)
the blessed palm fronds received the previous year are burnt in every
Christian home and members of the family mark their foreheads with
the ash.There are different sects of Christians in Kerala and every
one of them observe the solemnities of Lent and Palm Sunday. A few
sects, however, burn the kuruthola on a different occasion.
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