To be found...: Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday April 13, Corfu

Sunny (until the evening when it rained) 20 °C

Photo by Xenia

A long time ago, there lived a young man.

He lived in Nazareth with his parents and siblings and he became a carpenter.

Around his thirtieth birthday, he was baptized by John the Baptist in the river Jordan and upon his return to Galilee, he recruited his first disciples.

He was recognized as the Messiah they as Jews were waiting for.

We now know him as Jesus Christ.

Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday the gospel tells us the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey where he is welcomed by the crowd. People place Palm branches on the ground for him.

The day before and six days before the Jewish Passover, Lazarus had been awoken from the dead and many who were there believed in Jesus and his teachings. This upsets the Jewish chief priests.

These small details are important for the story that is to unfold in the next few days.

This is one of the pictures you will see in the Churches that day.

Saint Spyridon

Photo by Maria Victoria Douka

Every year on Palm Sunday, there is a procession of our Patron Saint Spyridon.

Brass bands from all over the island, students from the secondary school, scouts, the military and priests walk together a long way through Corfu Town in a slow procession, accompanying his remains.

Saint Spyridon saved the island of an epidemic outbreak of plague in 1630. In 1629 four case were observed and as time passed, more more people became sick. Despite the measures local authorities took, the spread of the illness could not be stopped. People went to the churches of the Saint to pray, as their last resort. (Photo by Maria Victoria Douka )

Photo by Xenia

The Saint seemed to hear their calls. As Easter neared, sick people would see him bless them in their sleep, giving them their health back. The guards of the Old Fort claimed to see an unnatural glow hovering over the city during the night. Every day the ill would reduce in number, until on Palm Sunday everyone was cured.

The Corfiots believed that their salvation from the plague was a miracle by their Patron Saint Spyridon. Since then, every year they honor him with the longest procession of the year. This procession goes around the whole perimeter of the post Byzantium city of Corfu.