S. Lackovits Emőke: Az egyházi esztendő jeles napjai, ünnepi szokásai a bakonyi és Balaton- felvidéki falvakban (Veszprém, 2000)

Festivals, holidays and customs of the ecclesiastical year

is a symbol of penitence, which was already used by the people of the Old Testament, and then by the early Christians. From the 14th century, ash was used generally at the beginning of Lent, at the end of public penance. The Ash Wednesday ceremony was filmed in Magyarpolány. For 25 years, the ash has been prepared by the sacristan and precentor, Mrs János Meiczinger Magdolna Meyer, who took over this task from her parents. The Palm Sunday willow twigs from the previous year are placed on a paper, broken up, and burnt on the stone floor of the courtyard larder. Until the end of the 1940s, this was carried out on the top of the stove. When the twigs are burnt to ashes and these have cooled, they are placed on a shovel, and sieved twice. The ashes are then placed on a tray and taken to the church, where the priest puts them in a glass or metal bowl and blesses them during the course of the mass and sprinkles them with consecrated water. The participants in the mass come before the priest one by one, and he draws a cross on their foreheads, saying „Remember, man, you are from dust and to dust you will return." Many do not wash this ash cross from their foreheads, as it is attributed with protection against headaches. IX. Palm Sunday (Fig Sunday) The most important of the fast Sundays before Easter is Palm Sunday, the feast of Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the crowds of the city spread their garments and palm branches at his feet. Because of this, the palm branch became part of the ceremonial of the feast in Mediterranean regions, whereas in the cooler countries of Central Europe, it was the earliest flowering branch, the pussy-willow. The willow twig consecration ceremony involved a procession, of Jerusalem origin. Palm Sunday has been considered a separate feast since the 7th-8th centuries. Within the framework of the morning mass, the priest consecrates the willow twigs, cut on the previous day by the church father or the sacristan, or possibly the children, and placed in the sanctuary on a separate table. In Magyarpolány, where the ceremony was filmed, the pussy willow is cut on Palm Saturday, and taken into the vestry on Palm Sunday to the priest and members of the parish council. The faithful take a few twigs of the pussy willow placed by the door. In the morning, consecration takes place in the mass, and afterwards the ministrants form the head of the procession carrying a crucifix decorated with willow branches and flowers, as a representation of Christ. Behind them follow on the priest, the members of the consistory, the three precentor women, and the faithful with pussywillow in their hands. They march round the church singing, to the sound of bells. After the procession, the Passion is heard for the first time in the church. The pussy willow, consecrated on Palm Sunday, is also one of the most important popular sacraments. It is kept on the top of a cupboard, or fixed to the side of a picture or mirror. Decades ago, it was placed in the attic, under the eves, in the stable or the pigsty, as it was attributed with protective powers again lightening strikes and harmful forces. In most villages with German minority, after the