I must have missed that day in Sunday School as a kid...

Today was Palm Sunday.

I got my palm before we processed from the Great Hall into the Cathedral, and spent part of the service trying to figure out how to twist it into a cross.

Tragically, I only managed to maim my palm. I tried to pawn it off as a magical palm rod or wand, but Trevor didn’t buy it.

And then, adding insult to injury, the three, little boys sitting in the pew behind us had managed to turn about 30 palms into crosses (their mother had apparently grabbed a bunch to entertain her brood during the long service). Trevor tried to get the eldest to teach me how to make one, but with no success. According to the little boy, “you either know how to make one, or you don’t.” Yes, that is helpful, thanks (grumble, grumble).

Not that I’ll remember to take the following to church with me NEXT year, but here are some relatively easy to follow directions. Hopefully, this is the last year I’ll be bested by a five-year-old.

HOW TO MAKE A PALM CROSS

1. Take a palm that is about 2 feet long and 1/2" wide (if it tapers at the top, this is good!). Hold the palm upright, so the tapered end points toward the ceiling.




2. Then bend the top end down and toward you so that the bend is about 5 or 6 inches from the bottom of the palm.




3. About a third of the way from the bend you just made, twist the section you've pulled down to the right, forming a right angle.




4. About an inch and a half away from the "stem" of the cross, bend this arm of the palm back behind the palm so that it is now facing to your left. Make the bend at a good length to form the right arm of the Cross.




5. Folding that same section at a point that equals the length on the right side, bend it on the left side and bring the end forward over what is now the front of the cross.




6. From the very center of the Cross, fold that arm up and to the upper right (in a "northeast" direction) so that it can wrap around where the upright post of the Cross and the right arm intersect.




7. Fold this down and to the left behind the Cross...




8. ...and then fold it toward the right so that it is parallel and under the transverse arms of the Cross.




9. Bring it up behind the Cross again, this time folding it up toward the "northwest" direction.




10. Tuck the tapered end into the transverse section you made in step 7...




11. ...and pull through.




12. Turn the Cross over; this side will be the front.