Today, Palm Sunday, or Lazarus Sunday, begins the… countdown to Easter, as tomorrow, Maundy Monday, begins Holy Week, Passion Week.
Palm Sunday celebrates the solemn entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, where, according to the Gospels, the Jews welcomed him holding palm branches and spreading their clothes on the ground, cheering “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”.
Because of the importance of the holiday, we eat fish.
“Vagia, Vaia of the Vagias, they eat fish and kolio, and until next Sunday with the red egg!”, as a children’s song says. Regarding the fasting of this day there is a difference in whether one can eat fish or not.
Theodoros the Studite’s opinion is that on Palm Sunday “fish is eaten”, because it is considered a Despotic holiday.
For Saint Nicodemus the Saint, fish is eaten only on one day of Great Lent, that is, on the day of the Annunciation.
The position of the Apostolic Orders is typical when they say: “After them (that is, the feasts of Christmas and Epiphany), observe the fast of Pentecost, which includes remembrance of the life of the Lord and the legislation. To keep this fast before Easter, starting on Monday and ending on Friday.
After these, after you have stopped fasting, begin the holy week of Easter, fasting during it all with fear…”.
The terms “after you break the fast” and “to begin” are indicative, indicating that one fast ends and another begins.
The one that ends is the fast of Great Lent and the one that begins is the fast of Holy Week.
During the first centuries of Christianity, Palm Sunday was celebrated along with the raising of Lazarus. Later the second was moved to one day earlier, the so-called Saturday of Lazarus.
For both the Orthodox and the Catholic Church, Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Holy Passion.
Despite its joyous character, initially the burning of fish, oil and wine on this day was considered incompatible with the sanctity of Holy Week and the following fast, adapting it accordingly.
