I can't claim to be a scholar, but here's some 'palm trivia'!

The Greek goddess of victory (Nike) was represented with a palm-leaf in her hand (but she didn’t wear trainers) and in Roman gladiatorial games, victors carried palm branches.

Because of its height and ray-like leaves, the palm was venerated by the Babylonians as both a fertility and a sun symbol, a Tree of Life. Baal-Tamar, a Phoenician god, was symbolised by the palm as were the goddesses Astarte and Ishtar.

The palm plays a significant symbolic role in the Judaic religion and became an emblem of Judea – many modern Middle-Eastern countries use the palm within their coats of arms.

In Christianity, the palm symbolises righteousness, resurrection, and martyrdom, all aspects of spiritual victory, and it appears still on Palm Sunday. In the Middle Ages, a palm leaf was worn by pilgrims going to the Holy Land and they became known as 'palmers'. If you meet someone whose last name is Palmer, then one of his ancestors made that hazardous trip.

Today, as an icon of the holiday brochures, the palm has become a symbol of hot, sunny hedonistic pleasures – a more secular holy day than it used to be!