The Sunday before Easter
Spring
Verbos, juniper, willow, blessed branches, tapping, health, protection for home and livestock, Vilnius verbos
Palm Sunday is the last Sunday before Easter. In Lithuania it centers on blessed verbos: juniper, willow, pussy willow, or decorative Vilnius verbos; morning tapping for health; keeping branches at home; fumigation during storms; and livestock protection at Jurgines.
What Is Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter. VLE recalls that it begins Holy Week and liturgically commemorates Christ's entry into Jerusalem, where people greeted him with branches. VLE adds that the Palm Sunday procession tradition has been known since the fourth century, when processions went from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, and in the fifth and sixth centuries it spread to other Eastern Christian countries.
In Lithuania the feast gained its own plant and household-protection form. Imbrasiene presents Palm Sunday as an archaic spring branch feast where church blessing meets images of tree and greenery life.
Which Plants Are Used for Verbos?
The verba was not the same across Lithuania. In Samogitia, Užnemunė, and parts of central Lithuania, juniper was often used. Its greenness before winter had fully withdrawn symbolized life, strength, and protection.
In eastern Lithuania, willow or pussy willow was important, especially branches with catkins. The redness and fast vegetation of willow connected with spring force. Oak, birch, and other branches later also entered the bunch.
Why Tap with a Verba?
The oldest and best-known custom is tapping with the verba. On Palm Sunday morning people tried to rise early and touch those still sleeping. It was not punishment but a wish to grow, be healthy, strong, and fortunate.
Short sayings usually stress that it is not the person who strikes but the verba. In some places the touched person was asked for a velykaitis, an Easter egg, linking Palm Sunday with the coming Easter.
What Was Done with the Blessed Verba?
A verba brought home from church was not thrown away. It was kept behind a beam, near pictures, in the loft, or in a corner all year. In western Samogitia and elsewhere it was set behind a house beam to protect from fire and thunderstorms.
During storms, the verba was burned for fumigation. EKGT also mentions fumigating a sick room, outbuildings, and protection from evil spirits. The blessed branch became a household protective object for the whole year.
Verbos, Livestock, and Bees
The customs did not end that Sunday. Imbrasiene mentions that juniper needles were put into a small bag and at Jurgines added to embers and carried three times around cattle to guard them from wolves and disease.
A verba could also be nailed near a beehive so bees would swarm well. These actions show the Palm Sunday branch connecting springtime person, home, animals, and coming farm work.
Vilnius Verbos Today
Decorative verbos of dried grain heads and flowers appeared later but became a very visible Vilnius-region craft. They should be understood as an ethnographic and folk-art form, not the only or oldest type of verba.
Today a person may carry a simple juniper or willow branch, or a bound Vilnius verba. The key is to keep the meaning: bless it, bring it home, avoid treating it only as decoration, and remember what plant and regional tradition are in your hands.
