Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday: traditions a week before Easter

Every year, on the last Sunday before Easter, Palm Sunday, also known as Holy Week or Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, is celebrated. It is one of the most important days in the Orthodox Christian calendar, marking the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem a week before his crucifixion. It is always celebrated on the Sunday before Easter and opens the Holy Week, or Holy Week, a period of intense spiritual preparation for the Resurrection. Find out how Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday will be celebrated in Ukraine in 2025 in the article by Kyiv Online.

Lazarus Saturday in 2025

Saturday, 12 April, is the last day to honour the dead before Easter. On the eve of Palm Sunday, believers usually give alms to relatives, neighbours or people in need.

In some parts of the country, at the beginning of Lent, people bring wheat, flour and oil to church, which are then used to make cabbage soup and pies, which are distributed on Lazarus Saturday in memory of those who have passed away.

What not to do on Lazarus Day:

• you can’t do laundry because you will disturb the sleeping people;
• it is also forbidden to work the land, as on this day, as they say, the land should be left to rest to honour the connection between life and death;
• quarrels should be avoided, as this day is dedicated to inner peace;
• no parties are allowed.

An ancient tradition that still survives today is Lazarus cakes, which are made by women and given out as charity on this day. Lazarus Saturday, together with Palm Sunday, overlaps the period between Lent and Holy Week, a time dedicated to the memories of the Saviour’s passion.

Palm Sunday 2025

Nowadays, Christians collect willow branches and take them to church to be blessed by priests, and then place them on icons to protect everyone in the house from illness. Others follow a different tradition: they attach them to their front door to protect their home, or they warm their hearth with them, believing that they will ward off pain and illness.

In some areas, willow branches are placed under the pillow of adult girls before they go to bed, believing that they will become more beautiful and get married that year. They are also placed on fruit trees and vines to make them bear more fruit, or on beehives to bless the bees. It is also said that you should not throw dry willow branches out of the house until you bring fresh ones to replace them. Thus, these willow branches, which are kept in the house all year round, protect the household from lightning, storms and hail.

People believe that the weather on Palm Sunday predicts the forecast for Easter. Also, on this day, Christians observe a fish fast, so you can cook fish dishes.