Chaitra month, Neem & Palm treeThe first of April, some do say,

Is set apart for All Fool's day;
But why the people call it so
Nor I, nor they themselves, do know.
But on this day are people sent
On purpose for pure merriment.

Americans do their fooling on 1st April because the early Scotch, English and French settlers brought the custom with them. The occassion provides pranksters of every description an opportunity to play a wide variety of jokes upon their friends and neighbors.

This year April 1st is Palm Sunday too. Palm tree is sacred since branches of palm tree were significant at the time of birth of Jesus. The bible scriptures mention Palm as characteristics of Palestine - the land of palms. The people of Jerusalem took the Palm branches and greeted Jesus when he entered Jerusalem and said, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 21:8; John 12:13). Here are Annie's Pages if you like to know more on this. Christmas pages on kidsfreesouls are here with some info too.

As such, we have the month of Chaitra (as per gujarati calendar) and this month, people drink the juice made of the leaves of bitter Neem tree. It is believed that if this juice is taken, a person will not fall sick for the whole year as it is very good for health. We also eat the flower of Neem tree with sugar if neem juice is too bitter to drink. Here is the Trees Page on Neem and Palm trees.

- ilaxi
Editor, kidsfreesouls.com