A long-standing Palm Sunday tradition at St Brendan’s Catholic Church continues to bring the community together more than
50 years after it first began.
In the late 1960s, local resident Dominic Zagami started crafting intricate decorations from date palm leaves to adorn the church for Palm Sunday. He later passed the skill on to apprentice Sam Berlingeri, establishing a tradition that has endured for generations.
Today, in the lead-up to Palm Sunday, a small group of parishioners gather each year to continue the practice. Guided by Mr Berlingeri, volunteers learn to weave palm leaves into symbolic shapes representing loaves and fishes, which are then displayed throughout the church.
The decorations mark the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem and the beginning of Holy Week in the Christian calendar.
The tradition also extends to students at St Brendan’s Primary School, where senior classes produce between 200 and 300 small palm crosses as part of their pre-Easter preparations. The crosses are blessed and distributed at Palm Sunday Mass, with some shared with neighbouring parishes including St Joseph’s in Swan
Reach and the Lakes Entrance Anglican Church.
Organisers say the number of volunteers involved in the annual preparation continues to grow, helping ensure the tradition remains a central part of the local Easter celebrations for years to come.
