Today the Orthodox Church celebrates one of the great Christian holidays - the Lord's Entrance into Jerusalem. Days before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, He was solemnly welcomed in the holy city by many people with palm branches and flowers. Hence the tradition of handing out willow twigs. The holiday is popular as Palm Sunday (Tsvetnitsa/Цветница or Vrabnitsa/Връбница).

A lot of Bulgarians have a name day on Palm Sunday - nearly 359 thousand people. Of these, 276 thousand are women and 83 thousand are men, according to data from the National Statistical Institute.

The Gospel account testifies to the fact that on his last coming to Jerusalem, Christ was received regally and with honors foretold by the Old Testament prophets. With enthusiastic shouts and palm branches, many people saw the resurrection of Lazarus the day before and greeted the Savior. The high priests, who had conspired to kill him and Lazarus, were indignant with malice and envy.

“I hope we meet him in our hearts, not say crucify him and be always with him. Now we need God more and more, we need to be good,” said Kalina, who is one of thousands of namesakes today.

“We celebrate, all of us with names of flowers, with the names of trees. Today is a very festive day for me. I will go to the liturgy, after which I will celebrate my name day."

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/BNR