Palm Crosses

Palm Crosses are used in churches of all denominations for Palm Sunday services.

The Palm crosses are made in eight villages in the Masasi area of southern Tanzania,these being Mpeta, Namikunda, Mlundelunde, Mumbaka, Machombei, Chivirikiti, Makanyama and Marika.

Palm cross production at Tanzania

African Palm crosses are made from Dwarf Palms Hyphaena Coriacea which grow wild and are not cultivated.

The film shows villagers cutting the palms in an area near Mbangara where they grow wild, they are then dried and cut into strips before being transported back to the villages, by bicycle or on foot. They are then woven into Palm Crosses and taken to a central collection point which at present is in Mpeta.

As they are handmade size tends to vary from 15 to 25cm in length

The Palm crosses are then taken by road to the nearest port either Mtawra or Dar es Salaam, where they are loaded into containers for shipment to the UK and USA.

You can order handwoven Palm Crosses here or go to our shop

African Palms

The aim of African Palms is to give people living in a very poor part of Tanzania the possibility of earning some extra money. The people’s daily work is the planting of maize, millet and some ground nuts to feed themselves and their families.
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