In Militello in Val di Catania, the festivities of the Holy Week begin on Ash Wednesday in the Church of Santa Maria della Stella and, after the procession at the Church of the Holy Cross on Calvary, end on Friday in the Church of San Nicolò.
The procession of Christ to the column
On the Ash Wednesday the procession of the seventeenth-century Christ to the column begins whose simulacrum, taken from the Church of Santa Maria della Stella, is carried in procession on the shoulder through the streets of the town until late evening.
On Good Friday at the Church of Calvary a moving procession takes place, on the occasion of the historical reconstruction of the Passion of the Savior. Starting from the morning, the Via Crucis Vivente, from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele to Calvario, is staged.
Here the statue of Christ is brought under the portico and the scene of the Crucifixion begins: the statue is hoisted on the ancient cross (passing a white cloth under the armpits) and the friars proceed to nail it.
A bomb, called miana, explodes with every hammer blow.
At sunset, Christ is laid dead on a funeral bed (which the brothers brought so far from the Istituto delle Orfanelle) to be buried in the Church of San Nicolò.
Accompanied by themarching band that plays in mourning, the fercolo is carried on the shoulder by young men dressed in white, while the Virgin wrapped in a black cloak follows him along with women and girls also dressed in black.
The complaints that the women offer along the sad procession are ancient screams that make the event even more dramatic. After the ceremony, the statue is hidden behind the Calvary Church.
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