How To Make a Palm Cross

Below we offer some different tools to help you make your own Palm Crosses:
► Watch How-to | Step-by-Step Instructions | View Diagram

Hand-Made Palm Crosses

Don't have the time to make your own? We have you covered. These palm crosses are hand-made in Tanzania. Proceeds from the sales of these Palm Crosses help local Tanzanians supplement their income.

Fresh Palm Strips

You can make your own Palm Crosses with these Fresh Palm Strips. Fresh Palm Strips are a special order item, delivered directly from Palm Farm to arrive before Palm Sunday (Sunday, April 14).

Step-by-Step 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. Trim the tapered end if necessary, remembering that the palm is a sacramental and any part you trim away should be kept and respected as a sacramental! Use that piece for burning during storms.