I will explain (hopefully adequately) only one of many ways to make a cross out of the palm branches we receive on Palm Sunday
[they remind us of the branches placed at the feet of Jesus when he entered Jerusalem about a week before his crucifixion]
(i will refer to the ends as ‘wide’ and ‘tapered’)
1. separate the palm branch.
2. fold over in the middle to create a 90 degree angle. wide end down.
3. fold wide end up, keep the 90 degree angle.
4. flip the whole thing over, so that the wide end, which was just on the top, is now on the bottom
5. fold wide end up again.
6-7. fold tapered end to the right.
8. stick tapered end through the pocket you’ve created
9. pull through. it should now be pretty secure, and able to stand on its own.
10. fold tapered end (on left) back, and put it through the pocket again
11. pull through until the arm of the cross is the desired length. the tapered end should now be on the right side.
12. fold the tapered end back, and again put it through the pocket as in #11 to create the other arm. flip it around and wrap the remaining tapered end through the pocket as i did, or just cut it off
13-14. fold wide end back and through the pocket. pull through until you’ve achieved the desired length of the top arm
15. you can either leave it alone, or tuck the wide end back through the pocket again.
Enjoy your palm cross!
on another note, we dyed easter eggs naturally today!
we used spinach, green tea, red onion peel, and paprika to create these lovely colors.
they are in the refrigerator soaking up more color overnight. Love that nature produces such beautiful hues
Aw…We always made palm branch crosses when I was growing up. I miss the liturgical part of Holy Week at ACAC, but my mom brought the girls some branches this week, so they have their crosses too:) Did you boil the spinach (etc) and just use the water for the eggs? I was thinking about trying this with the girls this weekend, but couldn’t decide on a “method” from all of the sites.
The spinach didn’t work as well as the others (for me, anyway). Yes, I boiled the food product for around 20-30 minutes, then strained the water when necessary through a coffee filter, and let the eggs soak for a while. When the water cooled down I transferred them to the fridge. The color was rich by evening so we replaced with fresh eggs for overnight.
Wow Danielle! This is so awesome, both the palm branch crosses and the natural coloration of eggs. I’ll bet the kids got a big kick out of this:)
xoxo