Tradition: The Palm Bouquet

A week before Easter, on Palm Sunday, Kitzbühel hosts its first festive highlight – the Palm Sunday procession. Maria Fäth, an expert on palm branches and Easter customs, explains the significance behind this colourful tradition.

Easter is associated with many well-known traditions. These include the Easter Bunny bringing colourful eggs, the festive Easter snack, and the tradition of eating spinach on Maundy Thursday. In Kitzbühel – as in many parts of Tyrol – the first festive highlight takes place a week before Easter, on Palm Sunday, with the Palm Procession. Children and young people in particular attend the service carrying so-called palm bouquets or palm branches to have the green and colourful bouquets blessed.

“In the past, and even today, the bouquets were placed under the roof or in the ‘Herrgottswinkel’ (a niche dedicated to the Lord) to ward off misfortune throughout the year,” explains Maria Fäth, an expert on palm bouquets and Easter customs. She herself learnt the art of bouquet-making from her mother and patiently passes on her knowledge to preserve the tradition.

“Traditionally, the boys carry the palm poles, which can even reach up to the church roof, and the girls carry the palm bouquets. But these days, the rules aren’t taken quite so strictly,” says Maria Fäth, mentioning the tiny little bouquets that are even made for cars.

So there are no strict rules for making palm bouquets, but there are a few essential ingredients that turn a bouquet into a palm bouquet: a sturdy wooden stick, boxwood twigs, a few catkins (willow catkins), floral wire, adhesive tape and coloured crepe paper.

“Of course, you can also include olive branches, thuja or other evergreen branches. What’s important is the green colour and a few catkins – as a sign of hope and a new beginning,” adds the trained nurse. Palm leaves or even whole palm trees are therefore not among the ingredients. But why are palm bouquets made and not, say, “boxwood bouquets”? “The name naturally comes from Palm Sunday, which dates back to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, where the people joyfully welcomed him with palm branches. Because this entry was so festive, it also marks the beginning of Holy Week,” explains Maria Fäth, “besides, palm trees don’t grow in Austria.”