pasqua in calabria: the photos

And so here we are at Pasquetta (Easter Monday).

Many people down here take the day to spend with friends, relax, eat, and whatnot, but since I'm a dedicated blogger, I've been going through the hundreds of photos I took this past weekend. Don't worry, I've also made time to relax and eat too.

For a fuller description of events, check out my previous Easter post here.

Also, I did take some videos, but since I'm on dial up, putting them on YouTube or something would take days. If anyone is interested, send me an email at bleedingespresso (dot) sognatrice (at) gmail (dot) com, and you'll get some Calabrian festivities delivered right to your inbox!

Some quick background. I had, essentially, an all access pass to the behind-the-scenes events because of P. You see, he's been involved in this forever and directs traffic so to speak at various parts. He kept telling people I was covering the whole thing for the BBC, so you can thank him for giving me the courage to get in the way of Jesus and co.

Ahem. The photos.

Starting at about noon on Saturday, the soldiers got their gear ready.

P and I headed down to where Jesus and the other two that would be crucified were getting ready. This happened inside a cantina while the soldiers and the penitent got in position outside. I thought the grated window would be a cool shot, and just as I snapped, a soldier walked by.

Here is one of the two to be crucified alongside Jesus waiting to exit the cantina.

And here are the sinners waiting to self-flagellate.

The two to be crucified and Jesus are being led down to one of the village's thirteen churches, from where the procession will begin.

Jesus rounding the corner to go down the path to the church.


The path to the church.


The area behind the church where Jesus is tied to the tree and beaten.

A brief pause in the festivities to give you an idea of how many people participate.


One of those people is P's nephew Vincenzo.


After Jesus is given his cross down there, the procession moves through the village and up to another church, formerly part of a monastery. This photo is taken from my balcony and is hazy because my neighbor decided to heat his house (read: smoke got in our eyes).


From here, the procession arrives at another small church in one of the tiny vicoli, and some of the major players hand off their robes to different participants.


From there, the procession moves to yet another church, where we await the arrival of the Madonna, but not before some further punishment of Jesus.

I don't have a photo of the arrival of the Madonna as I took it all on video, so if you'd like to see her dressed in her mourning clothes, do send me a message.

From that church, the procession goes all the way back down to the church where everything started, and we wait for the next day's events.

FYI, the procession of Sabato Santo takes between 8 and 9 hours.

Then on Sunday morning we have La Cunfrunta where the risen Jesus is met by the Madonna. Again, I have this all on video, but here's a shot of the two statues together.

And one of the a guy dancing while balancing his church's flag in his mouth.
Yes, there's a short video of this too if you're interested.

And that's all from this pretend BBC correspondent for today.