JERUSALEM -- Retracing Jesus' final steps into Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago, Christian pilgrims from around the world sang hymns and hiked on Palm Sunday from the Mount of Olives to the Old City of Jerusalem.
Thousands of pilgrims walked down the ancient hillside, carrying palm branches of every size and shape. Young people waved 6-foot-high branches while others had more modest palm sprigs tucked in their camera bags for the hour-long walk across the historical landscape.Palm Sunday marks Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem on a white donkey on the Sunday before his crucifixion, when his followers laid palm branches in his path. The day begins Christianity's most solemn period, the week that ends with Easter next Sunday.
"It's an incredible experience to be here in Jerusalem now," said Heidi Vogeler, 20, of Salt Lake City, who surveyed the valley dotted with green vegetation and stone houses hugging the hillsides. Vogeler was with a group of 60 other students from an LDS study center.
The hike, led each year by Christian Palestinian children in Scout uniforms, began at the Church of the Ascension, where Jesus started his last journey to the gates of Jerusalem.
Roger Syverson, from a St. Paul, Minn., church group, watched the procession go by and said he was glad to be here this year, rather than on the millennium.
"I think the year 2000 is a good year not to come," laughed Syverson, who wondered how there would be room for the millions of tourists expected to make the pilgrimage next year.
Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the highest representative of the Roman Catholic church in Jerusalem, celebrated Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus was buried.
At one point, worshipers turned and wished each other "peace" in at least seven different languages.
They came from all over the world -- the Holy Land, North America, Europe and the Far East -- and stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the tall, ornate wooden structure at the church that represents the tomb of Jesus.
There are no pews in the 4th century church built on the traditional site of Calvary, where Jesus took his last steps before crucifixion.