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Home » News and Events » Rites of Holy Week in the province of Trapani

RITES OF HOLY WEEK IN THE PROVINCE OF TRAPANI

Written by Luca Sciacchitano - 13/03/2019

From: 14/04/2019 - To: 21/04/2019

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Holy Week is the period preceding Easter Sunday and is filled in our territory with events and religious events that culminate on Good Friday in Trapani in the procession of the Mysteries.

Holy Week opens on Palm Sunday in Buseto Palizzolo with the traditional Via Crucis with living paintings representing the crucial scenes of the Passion of Christ. The representation takes place through the interpretation of characters in flesh and blood that are fixed and immobile on some carts, which parade in procession from the village Badia to the main square of the village.

On Holy Tuesday in Trapani the Madonna dei Massari leaves the Church of the Holy Souls of the Purgatory, which has a peculiarity: it is not a statue that is carried in procession, but the Virgin Mary is represented by a painting depicting Our Lady of Sorrows.

On Holy Wednesday, the Madonna, Mother Pietà of the People, exit from the Church of the Holy Souls of the Purgatory, curated by the class of the greengrocers, whose simulacrum is also constituted here by a painting, where on one side the face of the Madonna is depicted, while from the other, that of the Christ.

Holy Thursday is the day commonly called that of the "Sepulchres", but it is improper to speak of sepulchres, because Jesus is not yet dead, but he remembers the Blessed Sacrament, since at the last supper Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist.
In Marsala there is the city´s Via Crucis with the representation of the Passion of Jesus through the interpretation of characters who are not fixed and immobile as in Buseto Palizzolo, but recite and interact with the public that crowd the two sides of the road.

Good Friday is the most awaited day for the long week of religious events in the province of Trapani, because it is the time of the Procession of the Mysteries (here you can find itinerary and description), which leaves the Anime Sante del Purgatorio church starting at 2:00 pm and then returns the next morning to eight. It is the longest procession that the Catholic world represents on the day of the Passion, where faith and folklore mix, making the whole city of Trapani immerse in a truly fascinating atmosphere especially in the evening when the Sacred Groups reach the Via Fardella.

Equally fascinating are the Mysteries of Erice, which come out in procession on Fridays as well, but it is a much shorter procession, because there are only 6 groups that move through the medieval streets of the town and return to church by eight at night.

The focus of Holy Week is Easter Sunday with the Procession of the Risen Christ, which represents the victory over death. Moreover the resurrection is not only of Jesus, but of every Christian who sees in death not the end of everything, but the natural passage from earthly life to that without sunset in the heavens.

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