Burning Blessed Palms

[Zooman77]

Hi all,

Seeing that it is that time of year again when the blessed palms from last year are burned to ashes, I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I usually cut them into inch long pieces and then put them in a metal container and painstakingly try to burn them. However, they never want to catch on fire and I usually go through a few packs of matches before they are all burned to ashes. Is there a better/easier way to burn them?

Zooman

 

[Zoltan_Cobalt]

Hi all,

Seeing that it is that time of year again when the blessed palms from last year are burned to ashes, I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I usually cut them into inch long pieces and then put them in a metal container and painstakingly try to burn them. However, they never want to catch on fire and I usually go through a few packs of matches before they are all burned to ashes. Is there a better/easier way to burn them?

Zooman

My Pastor was having the same problem a few years ago. Now he just leaves a bunch of palms next to his barbecue grill with some matches at night and the next day his Guardian Angel leaves a nice little pile of ashes.

 

[pianistclare]

We turn our palms in to the priest and he or his sacristan handles all the burning.
They supplement the small amount of ashes they get this way with purchased ashes from suppliers.
I have no reason to burn them at home. My mother, however, used to burn a branch or so in times of anticipated deadly weather, and say many prayers for our safety.
Peace.

 

[OraLabora]

It’s the time of the year when our wood stove is roaring away, so in they go.

 

[tawny]

Hi all,

Seeing that it is that time of year again when the blessed palms from last year are burned to ashes, I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions? I usually cut them into inch long pieces and then put them in a metal container and painstakingly try to burn them. However, they never want to catch on fire and I usually go through a few packs of matches before they are all burned to ashes. Is there a better/easier way to burn them?

Zooman

I give my palms from last year back to the church to be burned for Ash Wednesday.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

I give my palms from last year back to the church to be burned for Ash Wednesday.

Many people do this traditionally. But not all churches use the ashes made that way on Ash Wednesday.

We have burned ours in a metal container but always have to have something burning in with them that burns better and stays hot. I love the idea of putting them into the wood stove. . I have also heard before about burning a palm when praying.

 

[Zooman77]

pianistclare:

We turn our palms in to the priest and he or his sacristan handles all the burning.

tawny:

I give my palms from last year back to the church to be burned for Ash Wednesday.

Mrs Sally:

Many people do this traditionally. But not all churches use the ashes made that way on Ash Wednesday.

My parish purchases ashes for Ash Wednesday instead of supplementing or solely using Blessed Palms from the previous Palm Sunday. It seems like only a few parishes in the area still collect palms, most just tell you to burn them yourself and bury the ashes.

 

[Zooman77]

Update:I ended up coming up with the idea of putting all of the one inch pieces of palm in the middle of a laid out newspaper and then rolled the newspaper up into a ball and put that into the metal container and burned that. It actually works quite well, the newspaper allows a larger flame to grow before it encounters the palms.

 

[Brandon_Cal]

Have you considered desiccating the palms before burning them?

 

[Zooman77]

Brandon Cal:

Have you considered desiccating the palms before burning them?

I had thought of doing that before with a food dehydrator though I wasn’t sure how it would turn out.