Holy Week Processions in Sorrento

Holy Week in Sorrento has a strong religious and folkloric connotation. On Holy Thursday at 8:30 a.m. the first procession begins by the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Rosary, which starts from the Church of Saints Felice and Baccolo and visits the altars of the Reposition. A few hours later (at 3 a.m.) the second procession, the White procession by the Archconfraternity of St. Monica, departs from the Church of the S.S. Annunziata. This is the most evocative moment of Holy Week in Sorrento, a rite that dates back to the 1300s. The procession travels through the streets of the historic center in total silence and recollection interrupted only by the sound of the faithful marching and the Miserere (famous psalm of David sung by two hundred male voices). The men wear a white tunic and hood and at the waist a black leather belt, in keeping with Augustinian tradition. Some hold metal trays on which are symbols of the Passion of Christ. The White Procession symbolically represents the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. The last Procession is the Black Procession that begins on the evening of Good Friday, when the Archconfraternity of Death starts from the Church of the Servants of Mary. This is the Procession of the Dead Christ, during which the hooded men (this time dressed entirely in black) carry a beautiful wooden sculpture of Christ on the Cross and a statue of Our Lady of Sorrows. The deeply moving and solemn Procession ends with the blessing of the wood of the cross.