The sister who sews the robes for the Nazarenes of La Amargura in Marbella

Holy Week in Marbella kicks off this Passion Saturday with the procession of the Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus of Humility, Our Lady of Bitterness, and Saint Anthony of Padua. This brotherhood, now in its third year, includes a procession of 320 participants.

Adriana Delgado is a 35-year-old woman from the Leganitos neighborhood and has been a sister of The Bitterness since its inception. She not only shows her devotion but also takes on the task of making many of the robes for the more than a hundred Nazarenes in the procession.

Delgado's work as a seamstress is entirely altruistic: "It's very sentimental. It's not for work or anything. They buy the materials, and whatever I can help with sewing, I do." "I always try to help. It's the only way I can contribute because it's hard with money," she added.

A professional upholstery seamstress, the young woman feels a strong connection to the Brotherhood, linked to her neighborhood. In 2024, she began making the robes for the Nazarenes since the brotherhood started its processions, a year when "they did not expect so many brothers."

As she explains, the elder brother, Óscar Cazorla, "had bought some robes" but not enough for the entire procession, so he asked Adriana for help, who sewed about 40 garments that year, since previously "everyone took care of their own" when it was not yet officially a brotherhood.

"I took one of the robes they bought and from that, I created the pattern," she notes regarding the making of the Nazarenes' robes of the Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus of Humility, Our Lady of Bitterness, and Saint Anthony of Padua. She designs the garments using 'peacock blue' stretch fabric, accompanied by white hoods and belts, in sizes S, M, L, and XL, "and everyone adjusts it to their height."

Delgado highlighted that the year of the first procession was "when the most robes were made, about 40," while in 2025 and 2026 she has made around twenty for each Holy Week. For this, she started sewing at home after Christmas this year, because "between work and home I can't help as much as I'd like."

"I think I help more this way, and if they can save on buying 30 or 20 robes, the ones I make, it's money they save and together we all move forward," the young woman commented about the Brotherhood, emphasizing that the "feeling is strong" for it.

The sister expressed the "satisfaction" she feels from this altruistic sewing work, because "it's something I do with a lot of feeling." At the same time, she praised Cazorla's work: "He was a kid who played, and seeing where he has come and what the Brotherhood has become, truly moves me a lot," she emphasized.

Connection with the neighborhood of Leganitos

"The brothers are my lifelong neighbors because we were all born in the neighborhood. Our mothers were friends, they had the Neighborhood Association, and there, while they met, we played outside," the young woman recounted about her connection with Leganitos and the Brotherhood, which she has been part of since "it was neither a brotherhood nor anything, it was a strawberry box and we all played to carry it out, we invented it."

Delgado recalls how the elder brother of The Bitterness "since he was a child started to play with that, and he would take any neighbor's Virgin of Fatima, his mother or his grandmother. He would change the mantle color, place her in the strawberry box, and parade her around the neighborhood."

"That's how it started, and little by little, it has reached where it is now," the sister highlighted, noting that Cazorla led from a young age this group of neighbors that over the years has become a brotherhood: "He would move us around. Come on, you stand here and you there, involving the whole neighborhood."

This is the third year that the Brotherhood of The Bitterness processes, which for the first time passes by the Official Tribune, set up this year on Arte street, with a request for permission. One of the most special moments of the procession is when the Virgin reaches the Leganitos neighborhood, where she is welcomed with a shower of petals by the neighbors, explained by the elder brother, Óscar Cazorla. Among the premieres, highlights include the second phase of the throne of The Bitterness with the front and the base, as well as the straps of the banners, the pike of the pikebearer, and the baton of the head of the procession.