Holy Week in Trapani opens with two processions that act as a prologue to that of the Mysteries. We are referring to the procession of the Madre Pietà dei Massari, on Holy Tuesday, and that of the Madonna del Popolo, on Holy Wednesday.
The procession of the Madre Pietà dei Massari has very ancient origins and was carried on the shoulders of the so-called massari, or people dedicated to hard work who were part of a congregation dedicated to St. Christopher, their patron saint.
The procession took place as it does today around the streets of the port, in the areas where the massari usually worked, who had the habit of erecting a temporary chapel to venerate the sacred image. This tradition is still respected today in Piazza Lucatelli, adjacent to the church of S. Rocco, where a chapel is placed under a tent for the veneration of the sacred image by the faithful during the night.
The Madre Pietà dei Massari is a painting dating back to the 17th century and, according to an undocumented tradition, the work should be attributed to a painter active in Trapani from the second half of the 16th century to the first decades of the 17th century.
Since 1956, the procession of the Madonna della Pietà del Popolo has taken place on Holy Wednesday and has the same characteristics as the Madonna dei Massari albeit with some variations. The care of which is entrusted to the greengrocers and the people.
The work, which is attributed to Giovanni Battista De Vita, a painter who worked in Trapani in the first twenty years of the 17th century, started in procession from the small church of Sant´Annella and from there was carried from house to house to the sick or for graces received.
Very characteristic and perhaps even a little folkloristic is the meeting between the two Madonnas that takes place in Piazza Lucatelli, where the Madre Pietà dei Massari has already been stationed since the evening before with the traditional exchange of candles by the two chief consuls.
The two processions leave today from the church of the Holy Souls of Purgatory, to begin the Holy Week in the name of Our Lady of Sorrows, who is represented in the images of the two icons carried in procession with a common symbol: the dagger. This object refers to the prophecy announced to Mary on the occasion of the presentation of Jesus at the temple, that a sword would pierce her heart.
(Testi Giuseppe Puglia)
PLACE OF THE EVENT
COMMENT "THE PROCESSION OF THE MADONNA DEL POPOLO AND MOTHER PIETÀ DEI MASSARI"
IN ADDITION TO "THE PROCESSION OF THE MADONNA DEL POPOLO AND MOTHER PIETÀ DEI MASSARI" MAYBE YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN THESE ARTICLES?
Find Events
