(Hebrew: hoshi'a na, save me)
Exclamation of joy. Its origin is traced to the 117th Psalm, which was recited daily by a priest in the procession around the altar during the Feast of Tabernacles, when the people were commanded to rejoice before the Lord (Leviticus 23), and on the seventh day it was recited in each of the seven processions. When verses 25,26 were said, the trumpet sounded, and the people waved branches of palms and myrtle, and shouted the words with the priest. Hoshi'a na was repeated so often that it became abbreviated into hosanna; the feast being an occasion for rejoicing, hosanna and palm-branches became associated with joy. In the Mass it is said twice during the Sanctus at the end of the Preface, and is sung at High Mass by the choir; also during the distribution of palms and the solemn procession on Palm Sunday, in imitation of the reception Our Lord received on entering Jerusalem before His seizure and Passion.