On March 28, 2026 (Saturday) at 2:00 PM at the Ethnographic Exhibition of RIM-Burgas (69 Slavjanska St.) a workshop on “Easter Palms” will be held.

It will be led by Maria Kozarova, a representative of the Polish community in Stara Zagora.

The event takes place within the framework of the cycle “Polonia teaches Polishness” and is organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Sofia, in cooperation with the Polish community in Burgas and the Polish Institute in Sofia.

The “Easter palm” is a branch or bouquet of live and dry plants, prepared before Easter in memory of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and blessed during the celebrations of Palm Sunday. It is made from willow, reed, boxwood, juniper, herbs and flowers.

Willow is the tree that wakes up earliest in spring and in the symbolism of the Church is a sign of resurrection and the immortality of the soul.

The first processions with “Easter palms” were organized in the 4th century in Jerusalem. This custom spread to the east, as well as to Spain and Gaul. From the 5th and 6th centuries, it was also adopted in the Western Church, and the blessing of green branches or “Easter palms” was introduced into the liturgy of Palm Sunday in the 11th century.

On Holy Saturday, the “palms” are burned, and the ashes are used the following year, when on Ash Wednesday the priest places a cross sign with them on the foreheads of the believers.