Why palms?

Today’s post is one of those blog entries which I wrote quickly wrote and then forgot to schedule for publishing. Well, better late than never…

Tonight I went to an Eastern Orthodox parish for Saturday Vespers and I was struck by how they decorated their church in preparation for Palm Sunday:

Now, the reason for decorating with palms was obvious, given that Sunday is called “Palm Sunday” and in the liturgy we’ll hear the account of Jesus being welcomed with palm branches:

The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” – John 12:12-13

However, I got to wondering…why palms? Was there any significance to it?

Thinking about it, I realized that many of the icons in my own parish featured palm branches. What was the symbolism? I was curious, so I went looking…

After a little bit of digging, I read that palms signify victory. This makes sense of the above Scripture passage since the people are welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem like a triumphant king. I found out that the palm was then used in iconography to symbolize victory over sinful flesh, as well as the victory of the martyrs who gave their lives for Christ.