Palm Sunday Virágvasárnap

Today is Palm Sunday a.k.a. Virágvasárnap (Flower’s Sunday) in Hungary, Sunday before Easter – beginning of the Holy Week. This is very important day in Christian cultures and is a basis of many ethnological traditions.

One such event is kiszehajtás – drivig the ‘kisze’ away. Kisze is in most cases a straw puppet dressed as a young girl. Girls used to take the ‘kisze’ through the village, and at the end throw it into the river or burn it. Or both as it appears in the image below:

The ‘kisze’ represents different things: winter, lent, illness. Different beliefs were connected the ‘kisze’: the girl who dresses it or catches it will get married soon, but if the puppet returns they believed illness will come back to the village. At the same place where the puppet was thrown into the water, every girl would throw one straw ball into the water. The girls whose straw ball would float away would get married that same year.

Any interesting traditions on Palm Sunday where you are at?? In Croatia we get olive branches at the church, take them home and feel very Holy.