The customs for Palm Sunday, also known as Olive Sunday, were revived again this year in Paphos, with housewives carrying small children to church or large cloth bags with olive leaves.
According to Anna Tselepou, researcher of the tradition, for days the housewives of Pafos, but also from the whole Cyprus, they cut the leaves from the olive branches and carry them in the specific bags, which remain in the church for forty days, until the Ascension of the Savior.
Also, on this particular day, the faithful make with two olive leaves and a small cross that they place in their lapel during the liturgy, he added.
According to Mrs. Tselepou in some villages of Pafos, after the end of the liturgy, the specific cross is attached to the entrance of the house.
For Cypriot believers, the olive is also used in the daily “smoking” in the houses, as he says, they believe that “the smoke of the consecrated olive exorcises evil”.
Source: KYPE
