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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • THE FAMILY ALBUM
  • ONCE UPON A TIME IN ROMANIA
    • ▸Bucharest, 1989: The days of Revolution
    • ▸I’ve also lived under communism
    • ▸Portraits of transition
    • ▸”Cabernet cu pepsi”
    • ▸Romania, 1990: Beyond the headlines
    • ▸“Mineriada” – My story
    • ▸Memorial of pain
  • WORK IN PROGRESS
    • ▸Barbershop
    • ▸Melancholic Identities
    • ▸Faces
    • ▸Fragmentary world
    • ▸Two
    • ▸Buddhist monks
    • ▸About windows and walls
    • ▸Mediterraneo
  • STORIES
    • ▸Alone, together
    • ▸Life and death in Varanasi
    • ▸Trans-Siberian – An experience of becoming
    • ▸Boxing in Havana
    • ▸Moving out of Escobar shadow
    • ▸One night at Htee Thein monastery
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – I misteri
    • ▸Easter in Sicily – La pasquetta
    • ▸Stalin’s Museum in Gori
    • ▸Havana: Between magic and decay
    • ▸Muay Thai for a day
    • ▸Cuban billboards
    • ▸Seeking a geisha
    • ▸Belfast’s murals: Behind and beyond
    • ▸Riding the Yangon’s ring train
    • ▸Bazar-Barakholka-Vernisazh
    • ▸An unexpected trip to Dhobi Ghat
    • ▸A different way to look at death
    • ▸Cannes under siege
    • ▸Inside the Guru’s kitchen
    • ▸Tibetan refugees
    • ▸The Golden Triangle: A Mecca of tribal diversity
    • ▸Bullfighting: Barbaric or art ?
    • ▸Crafts and traditions in Morroco
    • ▸Glastonbury with God
  • TRAVEL
    • Cuba
      • ▸The show must go on (part 1)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 2)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 3)
      • ▸The show must go on (part 4)
    • France
      • ▸Paris
      • ▸Paris. Again
    • Greece
      • ▸Mount Athos
      • ▸Postcards from Santorini
      • ▸Athens
      • ▸Mykonos – The picture-perfect Island
    • Germany
      • ▸Berlin
    • Vietnam
      • ▸Four days in Hanoi
      • ▸Cruising through the misty Halong Bay
    • India
      • ▸Portraits of Kashmir
      • ▸Rishikesh – Spiritual marketplace
      • ▸Life on the Sidewalk
    • Ireland
      • ▸The capital of pubs
      • ▸Ireland in ten days
    • Israel
      • ▸Israel in black & white
    • Colombia
      • ▸Colombia
      • ▸Paisas, coffee and much more
      • ▸Streets of Bogota – From Dystopia to Hope
      • ▸Life along the magical Magdalena River
      • ▸A non-touristy guide to Cartagena’s Caribbean paradise
    • Myanmar
      • ▸Min-ga-la-ba Myanmar
      • ▸Up and down on the hills of Shan State
    • Japan
      • ▸Tokyo
      • ▸Springtime in Kyoto
    • Portugal
      • ▸Life at the edge of Europe
    • Russian Federation
      • ▸The unexpected Moscow
      • ▸White Nights in St. Petersburg
    • Italy
      • ▸Rome
      • ▸Random Sicily
      • ▸Vedi Napoli e poi mori
      • ▸Venice
      • ▸Vanishing Venice
    • Morocco
      • ▸Sunset, camel rides and tea in Erg Chebi
      • ▸Medinas: Morocco’s hidden cities
      • ▸Morocco outskirts
      • ▸Djemaa El Fna encounters
      • ▸Surf and hippies
      • ▸The road of the One thousand kasbahs
      • ▸Amazigh – Berber – Free men
    • Georgia
      • ▸Postcards from Georgia
      • ▸The Many Faces of Tbilisi
    • Nepal
      • ▸Kathmandu Valley
    • Romania
      • ▸Romania to go
      • ▸Maramures
      • ▸Tara Motilor
    • Jordan
      • ▸Bedouin Trails
    • Turkey
      • ▸From Turkey with love
      • ▸Ballooning Cappadocia
      • ▸Where East meets West
      • ▸Street life, Istanbul-style
    • Mexico
      • ▸Finding Mexico City
    • Malaysia
      • ▸Transit KL
    • UK
      • ▸London
      • ▸Grab your kilt and bring your pipes
    • Sweden
      • ▸Stockholm
    • Spain
      • ▸Off-season Andalusia
    • Thailand
      • ▸Bangkok, year 2555
      • ▸Life in Pai
      • ▸Thailand
    • Laos
      • ▸Luang Prabang – The City of ultimate Zen
    • Poland
      • ▸Why I love Poland
    • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
      • ▸Neighbors, but not relatives
      • ▸Patarei – A little slice of Hell
    • Findland
      • ▸A sunny day in Helsinki
    • Denmark
      • ▸Copenhagen
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Easter in Sicily – I misteri

 

In Sicily, the Easter is celebrated with a certain aura of mysticism and paganism, essential elements of a folklore that is now gone in most Western world. Every town and village becomes the stage of solemn ceremonies.

The most famous procession is in Trapani. The Procession of the Mysteries is a day-long passion procession featuring twenty floats of lifelike wood, canvas and glue sculptures of individual scenes of the events of the Passion and Death of Christ, a passion play at the center and the culmination of the Holy Week. “I Misteri” (the Mysteries) are 20 artistic representations of the Passion and Death of Christ: 18 statue groups, as well as two simulacrums of Mary, who weeps over the body of Christ.

The Mysteries as artistic representation was granted by the Brotherhood of St. Michael the Archangel, which instituted the rite in the late 16th century, to the members of the local guilds called “maestranze” (working categories such as grocers, fishermen, bakers, butchers, etc.) in exchange of the promise to carry them during the passion procession every Good Friday. Each working category is responsible for a specific statue of the “misteri” and often the statue is called with the name of the “maestranza” itself. The statues are carried on the shoulders of ten men (the “massari”) that move to the music of the band leading the procession, with a particular step called the “annaccata”.

The whole citizenry, all the authorities and a shocking number of visitors from all over Italy and beyond, attend to this moving celebration. The statues, all covered in flowers and dressed with prestigious clothes, are also provided with an effective and sensational lighting system, which makes the parade even more touching. Night and dawn are the most enchanting moments of this amazing celebration: the shadows of the 20 works of art stand out on the walls of ancient palaces. At dawn, the bands start playing again.

These photos were taken in the same day of Good Friday, in 2011 (Palermo) and 2015 (Trapani)

 

 

 

Easter in Sicily – I misteri

 

In Sicily, the Easter is celebrated with a certain aura of mysticism and paganism, essential elements of a folklore that is now gone in most Western world. Every town and village becomes the stage of solemn ceremonies.

The most famous procession is in Trapani. The Procession of the Mysteries is a day-long passion procession featuring twenty floats of lifelike wood, canvas and glue sculptures of individual scenes of the events of the Passion and Death of Christ, a passion play at the center and the culmination of the Holy Week. “I Misteri” (the Mysteries) are 20 artistic representations of the Passion and Death of Christ: 18 statue groups, as well as two simulacrums of Mary, who weeps over the body of Christ.

The Mysteries as artistic representation was granted by the Brotherhood of St. Michael the Archangel, which instituted the rite in the late 16th century, to the members of the local guilds called “maestranze” (working categories such as grocers, fishermen, bakers, butchers, etc.) in exchange of the promise to carry them during the passion procession every Good Friday. Each working category is responsible for a specific statue of the “misteri” and often the statue is called with the name of the “maestranza” itself. The statues are carried on the shoulders of ten men (the “massari”) that move to the music of the band leading the procession, with a particular step called the “annaccata”.

The whole citizenry, all the authorities and a shocking number of visitors from all over Italy and beyond, attend to this moving celebration. The statues, all covered in flowers and dressed with prestigious clothes, are also provided with an effective and sensational lighting system, which makes the parade even more touching. Night and dawn are the most enchanting moments of this amazing celebration: the shadows of the 20 works of art stand out on the walls of ancient palaces. At dawn, the bands start playing again.

These photos were taken in the same day of Good Friday, in 2011 (Palermo) and 2015 (Trapani)

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