Palm Sunday

Today was Palm Sunday and it was possibly one of the best days of the semester in my opinion. However, I have a confession: I have not blogged about some really cool things I've experienced over the past few weeks, like running the Jerusalem Marathon (10k actually), spending an entire week in Turkey (thinking about blogging this gives me extreme feelings of anxiety), going to Bethlehem, stalking President Obama during his visit to Jerusalem, and snorkeling in the Red Sea. Also I didn't blog about finals/midterm week and don't plan to in an attempt to erase it from my memory. Here's my promise that you can hold me to: I will blog about these amazing experiences by the end of this week. I did, however, make an awesome video commemorating our Turkey trip and will post it when the internet is strong enough, meaning in just over a month when I'm back in the states. I can't believe how much time has flown!

Now for Palm Sunday. As you might know, Jesus Christ made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on this same day just 17 years shy of 2000 years ago. The prophet Zechariah prophesied of Christ's entry into Jerusalem on a donkey in the Old Testament in Zechariah 9:9. Mark 11:1-11 tells of the fulfillment of this prophecy, just a few days before Christ's last supper, atonement, crucifixion, and finally resurrection that is celebrated next Sunday on Easter.

1  And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples,2  And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.3  And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.4  And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.5  And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?6  And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.7  And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.8  And many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way.9  And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:10  Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.11  And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

Being in Jerusalem during this holy week where so many important events took place and prophecies were fulfilled is absolutely incredible and was a big part of the reason I decided to come here. Last night, some friends and I Wikitraveled sites we needed to see in Jerusalem that we haven't yet. We came up with a list of random things with vague directions to get to each and headed out with it and a map, hoping to see some new things along with our already planned Palm Sunday celebrations. We started the day off early with a visit to St. Stephen's Basilica in East Jerusalem. St. Stephen was a martyr in the early Christian church. The church was beautiful and my favorite part was that a super friendly cat got inside and climbed onto my lap.

St. Stephen's Basilica

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love cats. I really hope she didn't have fleas. Speaking of stray cats, my favorite cat that hangs out at the JC is pregnant! (So obviously I had to sneak her extra chicken today)

This adorable little lady had something to say to us, and went on and on about it for a long time (especially to Hannah). Unfortunately, she was speaking to us in French despite our efforts to tell her we only speak English. We tried really hard to understand what she was getting at but to no avail. I really hope it wasn't important!

Next we went to the St. George Cathedral for a Palm Sunday ceremony and mass. We were taking pictures in the courtyard outside of the Cathedral when a woman walks up to us, excitedly welcomes us (especially when she found out we were American because she's from California and is serving at this cathedral in Jerusalem for 2 years), and shows us through some gardens to another courtyard behind the cathedral where the Palm Sunday ceremony took place. She handed us programs so we could follow along during the ceremony and we were surprised to find out that half of it took place in Arabic. Although we didn't understand everything, there were translations in the program for most things that happened during the ceremony that weren't already in English. During this ceremony, the priest blessed the palm and olive leaves which we then carried in a procession to the cathedral. This ceremony was really interesting and was pretty small- I felt that we got a really good grasp on what Palm Sunday means to other faiths from it. The procession walked into the cathedral where we got to sit near the front for mass. Mass was also half in Arabic and half in English . About half of the congregation sang the hymns in Arabic but the other half sang them in English and we were able to sing along. Sitting in this beautiful cathedral listening to mass in Jerusalem, where the Palm Sunday event actually happened, on Palm Sunday was surreal.

Palm and Olive leaves and branches that were blessed

Palm Sunday procession ceremony

St. George Cathedral

St. George Cathedral after mass, with a blessed palm leaf tied into a cross and a blessed olive branch

After mass, we decided to check two things off our list and went into the Old City to have "the best hummus in Jerusalem" at Lina's, followed by wandering the streets of the Old City trying to find a secret staircase leading to the rooftops of the Jewish Quarter. After an awesome run-in with some Israeli bagpipers performing in some hidden upstairs room we found (random I know, just like everything else in the Old City), we found the secret staircase in a residential area and explored the rooftops! The way the Old City is built blows my mind- houses, shops, synagogues, neighborhoods, churches, schools, and streets are all stacked on top of each other in a way that shows the city wasn't exactly planned out beforehand. We ran around on the rooftops for awhile, loving every second of this awesome discovery, but had to run off to catch the Palm Sunday walk in time.

Rooftops of the Old City

The Palm Sunday walk is where thousands and thousands of Pilgrims from all over the world gather to walk the road Christ rode a donkey into the city on during his "triumphal entry". Carrying palm fronds, everyone gathered at the Bethpage Church at the top of the Mount of Olives and proceeded on the road down the hill and through Zion's gate of the Old City. The procession was parade-like with lots of groups singing their own songs in their own language. A big group of us BYU students sang hymns for awhile, many of which nuns and other people next to us joined in on. People around us absolutely loved listening to us sing. The walk took a pretty long time because there were SO many people and the roads were pretty narrow. Some of the groups had drums, marching bands, etc. which were fun to listen to. I loved seeing so many diverse people gathered together to celebrate something we all believe in on such a happy occasion. This Palm Sunday walk is something everyone should add to their bucket list- walking on the same path the Savior did at the start of the most important week of history is unreal. It was especially meaningful to me because Christ was entering a city I have come to love so much.

The route ended at the Pools of Bethesda where there were live bands and a robed Catholic priest singing some Christian pop while people waved their palm fronds. It was really festival-like and just fun. Hannah and I made friends with a crazy lady from Texas who was trying to convince us the world was going to end, and also a group of girls from Mexico who go to boarding school in Rhode Island. All sorts of interesting people were around and I loved talking with them. Unfortunately, the JC has a rule that we can't be in East Jerusalem or the Old City past dark so we had to leave after awhile, and the one gate that led out was bottle-necked so once we finally got out we had to book it back. We ran through the streets of the Old City, which seemed to be a recurring theme for the day, and made it back just in time. Palm Sunday was phenomenal and exhausting and I am SO glad I was able to be here in Jerusalem for it!