Palm Sunday Procession, Elche 2015

10 , Carrer de la Diagonal del Palau , 03202 Elx , Elx , Elche , Baix Vinalopó , Alicante , Valencian Community , Spain ,

Category: Events

Tags: elche, visitelche, spain, visitspain, domingo de ramos, unesco, heritage, procesion

Holy Week celebrations begin in Elche on Palm Sunday, which was declared a Fiesta of International Tourist Interest in 1997. The day’s main act is the Palm Procession, which in Elche is of special significance due to the large number of blanched palm leaves produced in the city’s palm groves and borne through the streets by the faithful. The procession, commemorating Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, has always had a large following and has become one of the most characteristic and popular expressions of Elx’s cultural identity. The first documented evidence concerning Diumenge de Rams, Palm Sunday, dates from 1371, when the Consell de la Vila, or Town Council, took part in the celebrations, distributing alms. Trade in blanched palm leaves was documented in an entry in the Town Hall records from 1492 and it has continued to the present day. For centuries, blanched palm leaves from Elche have been exported to the entire Catholic world.