Palm Sunday: 12 stunning pictures of celebrations around the world
Yesterday was Palm Sunday; the day Christians remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. It marks the start of Holy Week – leading up to Jesus' death on Good Friday, and resurrection on Easter Sunday.
Christians around the world celebrate Palm Sunday – named so because people threw palms on the ground as Jesus rode by – with ritual processions where palm branches are carried into church. These palms are blessed, and sometimes folded into crosses.
Here's a look at some of the celebrations from across the globe:
A Catholic priest sprinkles holy water to bless churchgoers' palm fronds during mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help church in Paranaque city, Manila.
Members of the clergy carry palm fronds as they take part in a procession at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City.
Pope Francis leads the Palm Sunday mass at Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican.
A woman prays on a hill with wooden crosses after a procession in the town of Oshmiany, Belarus.
Belarussian Catholics carry a wooden cross in Oshmiany.
Christian Maronite children hold palm fronds during a procession in the coastal city of Tripoli, northern Lebanon.
Children attend during a Palm Sunday procession in Pontevedra, northern Spain.
Catholics carry a statue of Jesus Christ on a donkey during a procession outside the Metropolitan Cathedral, in downtown Asuncion, Paraguay.
Clergy take part in a procession on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
Catholics hold weavings made of palm fronds during a procession at the 20 de Julio Church in Bogota, Colombia.
People take part in the Palm Sunday procession and traditional contest for the largest handmade palms (made of wicker twigs and decorated with colourful flowers and ribbons) in Lipnica Murowana near Krakow, southern Poland.