Easter in Sorrento 2010

04/03/2010 13.39.16

Among the several customs that take roots in a population there are certainly some that makes it unique, that tend to distinguish it from others. If we ask for the traditions that are a distinguishing sign of Sorrento and the Sorrentinian, we cannot avoid to refer to the traditions of the Easter time. Besides the Holy Friday Processions, Sorrento is also characterized by a long series of religious manifestations who develop along the time span of the whole Major Week. Besides the two processions of Sorrento between Thursday and the Holy Friday night, there are also other sixteen processions that take place in the other Communes of the peninsula. Three in S. Agnello, seven in Piano di Sorrento, three in Meta, two in Massa Lubrense, one in Vico Equense. One of the most important traditions of Sorrento and the Sorrento Peninsula is the Processions of Easter. The processions are held in Sorrento between Holy Thursday and holy Friday. Each congregation organizes its procession that paraded through the streets of the Sorrento peninsula. The processions are held in the towns of Sorrento, Piano di Sorrento, Sant'Agnello, Seiano and Meta. Holy Thursday begins with processions white. White-hooded men carried in procession through the streets of the mysteries of the Passion of Jesus Christ: the cross, the sponge, the nails, the shroud and all the others today who remember the Via Crucis. Each procession is accompanied by two choirs: the voices of children who opens the procession and the Gregorian chant of "Miserere", sung by adults, who closed the procession. In the night between Thursday and Friday, leaving other processions, always white: they begin their journey at 3 am to end it at dawn. The silence that surrounds them are among the most fascinating of all. These processions are traditionally opened by a chorus of women, scenic representation of the holy women, who sing my son, singing that recalls the Madonna tries her son. Women are excluded from the processions black, those of the Dead Christ coming out on Friday evening. In this case, hooded men in black carry in procession the Dead Christ. Processions of Sorrento are among the most evocative rites and historically are a memory of Spanish domination. This is a deeply felt tradition: men in Sorrento who work on the ships are always trying to get back to Sorrento to take part in the procession, and roles are passed down from father to son.