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| Plaited and smooth palm |
In Plaza Rey Jaime I Square, (Lat. 38°16'6.47"N, Long. 0°41'37.85"O), 4 minutes walking from Elche City Hall, you
can find the Serrano Valero family´s workshop. Between October and Easter, this
family sells here pomegranates and dates of their own plantations, and white
palm handcraft that they make in this place. From Easter to October it´s
closed.
White palm leaves are carried by thousands of people
in the Palm Sunday procession in Elche, through the streets in the city. The first
reference of this tradition was written in 1371.
The production of the white palm leaf (lapel pin, smooth palm and
plaited palm) is a quite laborious process. The plaiting of the white palm is a
task that takes a lot of dedication, and it´s hard to teach.
In worked palms, leaves are
plaited, joint and sewn in order to make decorative motifs like stars, chain
stitches, crosses, virgins, balls, flowers, etc., which are added little by
little to the central palm leaf and thus manage to get beautiful results.
Families of palm farmers like Serrano Valero family, have passed their
artisan knowledge down from generation to generation.
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| Fig bread (pan de higo), dates and pomegranates |
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| Natural dates |
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| Other products for sale |
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| Palm-leaf lapel pins |
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| Working plaited palm |
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| Serrano Valero family, to mid-twentieth century |
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| Serrano Valero family´s workshop |
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| White palm workshop map |
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