Making a Cross From Four Palm Fronds

Here in central Minnesota, palm fronds are part of our Palm Sunday Mass.

We generally take them home, fold them into the shape of a cross while they're still green and pliable, and put them somewhere in the home where they'll be visible.

Before next year's Lent, we'll return them to the parish church, where they're burned to make ashes for Ash Wednesday. That's the idea, at any rate. Some years, including this one, I forget about bringing last year's back. Letting that upset me is an option. But not, I think, a reasonable one. And that's another topic.

Last weekend, my now-grown son asked my wife about the palm fronds he'd brought home from Mass. That reminded me that it's been 11 years since I made a short video, and 10 since I've shared it online. It's a short (4:26) how-2, showing how we fold our fronds.

More at A Catholic Citizen in America.

(How my family folds palm fronds into a Saint Andrews cross, using a lanyard weave. Video.)