Spain began Holy Week on Palm Sunday with processions that fill city streets with palm branches, hymns and elaborate religious floats, and the day’s ceremonies included a familiar face in Malaga. Actor Antonio Banderas joined the crowds for the observance, participating in the procession of his brotherhood, Tears and Favors, as crowds gathered in the narrow streets of the old town.
Banderas joined the religious rite after singing a hymn inside the church of Saint John, according to the Associated Press report. Dressed in what the report described as a traditional penitent’s robe in bright beige with dark green detailing, he gave the order to set in motion the float on which the brotherhood’s bearers carried the Virgin of his brotherhood.
The Associated Press reported that Banderas has taken part in the Malaga procession for more than 20 years. In comments to reporters, he said he always sees “the traditions of my homeland, our identity” and that he was “delighted to be here,” adding that “For me, Holy Week is a time of tears and favors that bring about very beautiful things,” according to the report.
The AP said the Tears and Favors procession is one of nine brotherhoods that planned to parade through the old town for several hours on a sunny Palm Sunday, continuing until nightfall. The day is the first major observance of Holy Week, and it centers on Christians’ commemoration of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, which occurs days before his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Across Spain, other cities such as Seville and Malaga also host popular and lavish processions, the report said, with elaborately decorated floats and hundreds of penitents. Religious events of different kinds take place nationwide, with local variations including, in Cabra in the province region of Cordoba, palm branches carried by faithful alongside portrayals of the 12 apostles wearing masks bearing their likenesses.
Over the course of the coming week, thousands of penitents are expected to carry and accompany antique and venerated images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary in massive floats, while hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists line the streets. The Associated Press reported that people watch the processions by singing hymns, showering participants with flowers, or observing silence.
This year’s Palm Sunday observances arrived as Spain marked the Catholic calendar’s opening chapter—processions that mix long-standing local customs with the broader faith narrative of the week leading to Good Friday and Easter Sunday.