The feast commerates the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem in the days before his execution. This was the only day in which Jesus Christ set aside His ministerial role to make a political statement before His covenant people. Many Christians and Messianic Jews regard this event as the terminus of the first 69 weeks of Daniel’s Prophecy of Seventy Weeks, and thereby a very holy day. Even setting this aside, the nature of the entry and its circumstances are usually deemed enough to warrant a special feast.

It was also a common custom in many lands in the ancient Near East to cover, in some way, the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. All of the Gospels report that people gave Jesus this honor. In Mark, Matthew, and Luke they are reported as laying their garments and cut rushes on the street. John is the only Gospel to specifically mention palm branches. The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory (Leviticus 23:40 - Feast of Tabernacles, and Revelation 7:9). Because of this the detail of the palm branches and the scene of the crowd greeting Jesus as he entered Jerusalem by waving palm fronds, and carpeting his path with them, has given the day its name.

The prophecy often cited as having been fulfilled by the Triumphal Entry reads as follows:

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the war-horses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the [Euphrates] River to the ends of the earth. (Zech. 9:9-10, NIV)