Part 1: Mardi Gras
Part 2: Ash Wednesday
Part 3: Giving Shit Up
Part 4: No Meat
Part 5: Palm Sunday
Part 6: Holy Thursday
Part 7: Good Friday
Part 8: ...Saturday
Part 9: Easter Sunday
Part 10: The Ascension
Palm Sunday
Some of Lent's pretty fun, comparatively. Palm Sunday, for example. It's nice being able to hold a bunch of palms outside for a while. It helps distract me more than normal during mass. You also grow a weird bond with your palm by the end of it. I always hated giving mine up.
Catholics don't bother questioning why we celebrate people holding up palms for a few Jews coming into Jerusalem. There's no more reason to do that than there would be to run into a Target knocking stuff over in commemoration of Jesus doing that in the temple.
I know that sounds crazy now, but what if that was instead the tradition that caught hold? We'd all gather in the Church parking lot, breaking dishes and stuff, maybe with a picture of Tiberius (Julius wasn't Jesus' Caesar) hanging up somewhere, the whole time yelling about "This is not allowed in God's house." It's a little more involved, certainly more fun, and does a much better job of teaching Jesus' anti-authoritarian (ironic when you look at it now) message.
No one bothers asking about the palms. Why did they choose those to wave Jesus into town with those? Who knows, it may have been a hot day and people wanted some shade while waiting for Jesus. I don't know. Then again, for Catholics, "just because" is a good enough reason.
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