Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week.  Holy Week reminds us of Christ's suffering until the time of his resurrection. The focal point of Palm Sunday is the Blessing of the "Palms", which are generally actually pussy willows, holly, box tree, juniper or cedar. It is combined with a ceremony in the church and generally with a procession through town.

In Puch (near Hallein), a so-called "Palm Donkey" is also pulled along.  This popular village in the Tennengau region is one of the few towns in Austria in which this traditional procession - dating back to the Middle Ages, with a figure of Christ mounted atop a wooden Palm Donkey - has been preserved.

The bundles of palms are subsequently stuck into the fields as a symbol of fertility.