Palm branch (symbol)

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Palm branch (symbol)

A palm branch (or palm frond
Frond

A frond is a large leaf with many divisions to it, and the term is typically used for the leaves of Arecaceaes, ferns or cycads. A frond is the leaf- like structure of a fern or alga....
or palm stem
Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaf, inflorescence , conifer cones or other stems etc....
), usually refers to the leaves of the Arecaceae

Arecaceae

Palm or Palmae or Panamea , the palm family, is a family of flowering plants belonging to the Monocotyledon order, Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known Genus with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate climates....
(sometimes known by the names Palmae).

The palm branch

Branch

A branch or tree branch is a woody structural Limb connected to but not part of the central trunk of a tree . Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs.....
was a symbol of triumph and victory in pre-Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
times. The Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
rewarded champions of the games and celebrated military successes with palm branches.

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Arecaceae

Branch

Christian

Ancient Rome

HMS Nelson (1925)

HMS Nelson was a Nelson class battleship battleship of the Royal Navy built between the two World Wars. She was named in honour of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson the victor at the Battle of Trafalgar....
and the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private university, nonsectarian, research university located in the University Park, Los Angeles, California neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, California, United States....
is "Palmam qui meruit ferat", which means in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, "Let him bear the palm who has deserved it". Jews followed a similar tradition of carrying palm branches during festive times.

Christianity

Meister Der Palastkapelle in Palermo 002

Early Christian

Christian

Palm Sunday

Image:Meister der Palastkapelle in Palermo 002.jpg|thumb|300px|'The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem' mosaic by the Master of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo .]]...
festival celebrating the triumphal entry of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity and is revered by most Christian churches as the Son of God and the Incarnation ....
into Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
. In Christian art

Christian art

Christian art is art produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the principles of Christianity. Virtually all Christian groupings use or have used art to some extent....
, martyrs

Christian martyrs

A Christian martyr is one who is killed for religious persecution, through stoning, crucifixion or Execution by burning etc. The word 'martyr' comes from the Greek word which means "witness."...
were usually shown holding a palm frond, representing the victory of spirit over flesh, and it was widely believed that a picture of a palm on a tomb meant that a martyr was buried there.

Origen

Origen

Origen was an Early Christianity scholar, theology, and one of the most distinguished of the early Church father of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Ancient Egypt who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had taught....
calls the palm (In Joan., XXXI) the symbol of victory in that war waged by the spirit against the flesh. In this sense it was especially applicable to martyrs, the victors par excellence over the spiritual foes of mankind; hence the frequent occurrence in the Acts of the martyrs of such expressions as "he received the palm of martyrdom." On 10 April 1688 it was decided by the Congregation of Rites

Congregation of Rites

The Sacred Congregation of Rites was a Congregation of the Roman Curia, erected on January 22, 1588 by Pope Sixtus V and dissolved by Pope Paul VI on May 8, 1969....
that the palm when found depicted on catacomb tombs was to be regarded as a proof that a martyr had been interred there. Subsequently this opinion was acknowledged by Mabillon, Muratori, Benedict XIV and others to be untenable; further investigation showed that the palm was represented not only on tombs of the post-persecution era, but even on pagan tombs.

The general significance of the palm on early Christian monuments is slightly modified according to its association with other symbols (e.g., with the monogram

Monogram

A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos....
of Christ, the Ichthus

Ichthus

Ichthus is an alternate spelling of Ichthys , the Greek word for fish. The word may also refer to:*Ichthus Music Festival, an annual Christian musicfest event in Wilmore, KY...
(Fish), or the Good Shepherd). On some later monuments the palm was represented merely as an ornament separating two scenes. Palms also represented heaven, evidenced by ancient art often depicting Jesus in heaven among palms.

Judaism

In Judaism

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
, the date palm

Date Palm

Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as the Date Palm, is a Arecaceae in the genus Phoenix , extensively cultivated for its edible sweet fruit....
represents peace and plenty, and is one of the Four Species

Four Species

The Four Species are three types of branches and one type of fruit which are held together and waved in a special ceremony during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot....
(Lulav

Lulav

The lulav is a closed frond of the date palm tree. It is one of the arba'ah minim used in the morning prayer services during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot....
) used in the daily prayers on the feast of Sukkot

Sukkot

Sukkot , is a Hebrew Bible pilgrimage Jewish holiday that occurs in autumn on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei . The holiday lasts seven days, including Chol Hamoed....
. It is bound together with the hadass

Hadass

Hadass is a bough of the myrtle tree. It is one of the Four Species used in a special waving ceremony during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. The other species are the lulav , Aravah , and etrog ....
(myrtle

Myrtle

The Myrtle is a genus of one or two species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae, native to southern Europe and north Africa. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees, growing to 5 m tall....
), and aravah

Aravah

Aravah can refer to:*Arabah, a section of the Great Rift Valley on the border between Israel and Jordan, south of the Dead Sea and north of the Gulf of Aqaba....
(willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
) The palm may also symbolize the Tree of Life

Tree of life

The concept of a many-branched tree illustrating the idea that all life on earth is related has been used in tree of life , religion, philosophy, mythology and other areas....
in Kabbalah

Kabbalah

Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mysticism aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings that are meant to explain the relationship between an infinite, eternal and essentially unknowable Creator deity with the finite and mortal universe of His creation....
.

Islam

Muhammad

Muhammad Patronymic#Arabic Abd Allah ibn Abd al Muttalib , is the founder of the Major religious groups of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as a Rasul and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of prophets....
is said to have built his home out of palm, and the palm symbolizes rest and hospitality in many cultures of the Middle East. The first muezzin

Muezzin

File:Jean-L?on G?r?me 010.jpgThe muezzin is a chosen person at the mosque who leads the call to Friday service and the five daily prayers from one of the mosque's minarets ....
climbed palm trees to call the faithful to prayer, from which the minaret

Minaret

Minarets are distinctive architectural features of Islamic mosques. Minarets are generally tall spires with onion dome, usually either free standing or much taller than any surrounding support structure....
developed.

Other religions

The sacred tree in Assyria

Assyria

Assyria was a political state centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history....
n mythology is a palm that symbolizes Ishtar

Ishtar

Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Mesopotamian mythology Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte....
connecting heaven, the crown of the tree, and earth, the base of the trunk. Palm stems represented long life to the Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
ians, and the god Huh

Huh (god)

In Egyptian mythology, Huh was the deification of eternity in the Ogdoad, his name itself meaning endlessness. As a concept, he was androgynous, his female form being known as Hauhet, which is simply the grammatical gender of his name....
was often shown holding a palm stem in one or both hands. The palm tree was a sacred sign of Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
in Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
because he had been born under one in Delos

Delos

The island of Delos , isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, is one of the most important mythological, historical and archaeological sites in Greece....
. In ancient Mesopotamia, the date palm may have represented fertility in humans. The Mesopotamian goddess Inanna

Inanna

Inanna ; ) is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare.Alternative Sumerian names include Innin, Ennin, Ninnin, Ninni, Ninanna, Ninnar, Innina, Ennina, Irnina, Innini, Nana and Nin, commonly derived from an earlier Nin-ana "lady of the sky", although Gelb presented th...
, who had a part in the sacred marriage ritual, considered herself the one who made the dates abundant.

Modern usage

Today, the palm, especially the coconut, remains a symbol of a tropical island paradise . Palms appear on the flags and seals of several places where they are native, including those of Malta

Malta

Malta , officially the Republic of Malta , is a densely populated developed country European microstates microstate in the European Union....
, Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Haitian Creole language- and French language-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago....
, Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay , is one of the only two landlocked countries in South America . It lies on both banks of the Paraguay River and is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest....
, Guam

Guam

Guam , officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized, unincorporated insular area of the United States....
, Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, and South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a U.S. state in the Southern United States of the United States. It borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north....
.

The palm branch symbol is included in MUFI: ? (F1DB, ‘PALM BRANCH’ in Unicode

Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard allowing computers to consistently represent and manipulate Character expressed in most of the world's writing systems....
).

Palm branch (symbol)

Christianity

Judaism

Islam

Other religions

Modern usage

See also