Palm Sunday in Spitalfields. 1844. Source: Illustrated London News. Click on image to enlarge it.
Extract from the ILN
It is still customary with our boys, in most parts of England, to go out and gather slips with the willow flowers or blossoms at this time: these are selected as representatives of the palm, because they are generally the only plants at this season, easily to be come at, in which the power of vegetation can be discovered.
In the neighbourhood of London, too, "palming" is still a practice on the Sunday before Easter. The weavers of Spitalfields, leaving their murky workshops, customarily ramble into the fields and lowlands of Essex, on this day. to gather "palm," and inhale a better atmosphere. Our artist has depicted a scene of the return of one of these parties. The yellow catkins, or male-flowers, are more highly prized than the white, or female flowers. [213]
You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust Digital Library and The University of Michigan Library and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. — — George P. Landow
Bibliography
“Palm Sunday in Spitalfields.” Illustrated London News. (6 April 1844): 213. Hathi Trust Digital Library version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 22 December 2015.
Last modified 24 December 2015