Spectacle and pageantry in Good Friday processions

On a hot, sunny afternoon untypical of Good Friday, hundreds of faithful and a number of curious tourists packed the Vittoriosa parish church for the 3 p.m. Solemn Liturgy, as did thousands of other Catholics in villages around Malta and Gozo.

Different from the usual Mass, the Good Friday Liturgy is centred on the reading of the Passion of Christ and the adoration of the Holy Cross, with the congregation lining up to express their devotion by kissing the cross.

The Good Friday procession, with the band playing funeral marches, followed.

Vittoriosa is one of the Maltese villages where the Good Friday statues are wearing real clothes. Its procession is one of the few that have retained, more or less, their traditional form, with special participants marching all the way with the statue bearers and the band; the Knights of St John who dress up in traditional clothing and take part every year.

Some have commented that, along the years, processions have lost their devotional aura in certain villages and have come to resemble a village feast. But others see nothing much wrong in that, saying the procession is a religious commemoration that draws people to religion through spectacle and pageantry.

Since the 1960s, some villages have introduced new personalities such as Caiphas, Pontius Pilate, the Roman soldiers, the Apostles and other characters in order to attract more people to the processions.

Other additions have been people dressed in white hooded cloaks, walking barefoot and carrying heavy chains - a sign of penance or the fulfilment of some vow.

But Good Friday processions go beyond that. They are considered an important social event for most villages since they involve a great deal of preparation. Specific traditions tied to Good Friday processions, such as the statue bearing, are passed on from one generation to the next. In Valletta, for instance, bearers carry the statue in a "special" step that is also taught to children from a young age.

As in other years, many people gathered in Siggiewi to take part in the Via Sagra aux flambeaux on Maundy Thursday.

The footpath and the statues along the hill leading up to is-Salib ta' l-Gholja were all lit up by hundreds of fjakkoli which created a spiritual aura for those present and a magical vision for those who looked at the hill from afar.

Onlookers noted that the cave underneath Laferla cross was, unlike other years, closed to the public.

This Maundy Thursday activity was organised by the Hbieb l-Akbar Grajja.