Easter is approaching, and Sicily, as per tradition, is preparing to celebrate this occasion with the intense popular participation that has always characterized the days of Holy Week. Starting from Palm Sunday, preceding Easter Sunday, processions, pilgrimages, and representations commemorating the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ take place in all Sicilian municipalities.
From the smallest towns to the main cities, we witness the representation of this religious occasion, interpreted according to the characteristic traditions of each place, giving life to unique spectacles where the atmosphere of mourning and sadness comes alive in the days leading up to Easter, until the moments of joy and celebration for the Resurrection.
Scicli
Easter in Scicli, in the province of Ragusa, is certainly one of the most characteristic. In the baroque city, on Palm Sunday, S. Maria della Pietà is celebrated, the statue depicting the Madonna is carried in procession from the S. Maria la Nova church to the Carmine church, the float contains a statuary group depicting two pious women and Christ’s mother supporting the body of her beloved son after descending from the Cross.
On Easter Sunday, the Feast of the Living Man takes place. The statue of Christ is carried in procession through the city streets and greeted by people shouting Gioia, as Christ is affectionately called, and made to dance and sway joyfully under a shower of flowers amidst the cheers of the celebrating crowd.
Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto
In the city of Barcellona in the province of Messina, on Holy Thursday, 12 men, impersonating the apostles, perform the foot-washing ritual followed by the procession of the Apostles. But it is during Good Friday that the Easter commemoration comes to life, during the day the characteristic thirteen floats are carried in procession in two separate processions. One procession starts from the Gesù e Maria church located in Pozzo di Gotto and the other in Barcellona from the San Giovanni church, the procession is accompanied by the traditional singing of the Visilla by Venanzio Fortunato, the meeting of the two processions takes place on the Longano Bridge and is certainly the most touching moment of the sacred celebration.
Militello Rosmarino
In the small village in the province of Messina, the celebrations of Holy Week begin late at night on Thursday in an atmosphere of total religious contemplation, the population carries the Urn of Christ in procession, symbolically following the path of the Cross.
On Good Friday, the procession of the Crucified Christ and the Sorrowful Virgin begins, the statue depicting Christ is carried in procession by eight hooded men representing the Jews. The procession of Jesus of the Urn follows, marked by moments of prayer, and finally Easter Sunday with the procession of the risen Jesus with fireworks and illuminations.
Other Easter processions in Sicily
Here we must mention the other processions that take place in Sicily, characteristic for the events and representations that occur during Holy Week, such as those in Caltanissetta, Caltagirone, Ragusa and Enna, as well as in Palermo and Catania.
Best wishes and Happy Easter from Sicilia Shuttle Service.
