Father Stephanos, O.S.B tells us that it is actually olive branches that are traditional for today, though other branches may be use.
Because Olive Sunday doesn't sound quite right
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"It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it." GKC
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Check it out at:
http://monkallover.blogspot.com/2006/04/roman-tradition-uses-olive-branches-on.html
Soooo . . .
. . . how about “Palmolive” . . . ?
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Don’t know much about olive branches, except I suspect it would have been easier to pull down fronds from palm trees than to hack off olive branches…Olive trees live in groves…Palm trees here in the Philippines grow all over, especially in the streets…
And it was a spontaneous demonstration…so why go all the way to a grove to borrow a knife/saw to get olive branches when the palm fronds are right there?
Palm trees in the Holy land are not easy to climb. Think of your taller Philippine coconut trees. Some palms have long spikes among their leaves, or their trunks are studded with the broken ends of former branches. (I’ve been to the Philippines … was born there.)
Olive trees have low hanging branches and stems that are easily broken off with bare hands. (I live in San Diego, California … olive trees are common.)
P.S. I�ve now added LINKS TO PHOTOS from the pope�s Palm Sunday Procession and Mass.
If it had been Olive Sunday, can you imagine the woman’s magazines out there and all of the funky recipes for olives that we would have had by now?