Holy Week Traditions and Processions

This article examines the celebration of Lazarus Saturday in Hagiopolite liturgical practice between the late fourth and early tenth centuries. Lazarus Saturday occupied a significant place within the liturgical year in ancient Jerusalem, signaling the end of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week. Building on several previous studies concerning the structural development of the Lazarus Saturday rites, this work offers a consideration of the broader themes and beliefs celebrated in these liturgies. It concludes by noting that Lazarus Saturday served as an encapsulation of the community’s Paschal celebration of salvation through Christ and a thematic hinge that connected the events of Holy Week to the lives of worshippers.

Dentro del periodismo especializado en religión, ocupa un lugar preponderante, en determinadas áreas geográficas españolas, la cobertura de actos relacionados con la Semana Santa, lo que se conoce como información cofrade, hasta ahora escasamente abordada desde el ámbito académico. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo fundamental conocer el tratamiento que esta celebración y sus protagonistas, las hermandades, tienen en los medios, y contribuir a su definición como área de especialización periodística, tomando como foco de investigación la prensa local de Málaga. Se analizan 390 textos relacionados con la Semana Santa publicados a lo largo de 2017 en los periódicos Sur, La Opinión de Málaga y Málaga Hoy. Los resultados del análisis permiten confirmar la importancia de este fenómeno en los medios locales, y cómo su tratamiento se caracteriza por el empleo de un elevado número de términos especializados, la agrupación de contenidos y el uso de géneros tanto informativos como interpretativos y argumentativos, todo lo cual cimenta su estatus de modalidad periodística autónoma. Palabras clave: Periodismo especializado; información religiosa; Semana Santa; géneros periodísticos; prensa local. [en] Religious journalism and the information about the Spanish Holy Week Abstract. Within the religious journalism, the coverage of acts related to the Holy Week occupies a special, important place in the media of some Spanish regions, specially in the South of the country. But until now, it's a field barely studied by the scholar research. This work aims to know the treatment that this celebration and its main actors, the Brotherhoods, have in the media, taking the local press of the city of Malaga as our study object. So, we analyze 390 texts related to the Holy Week published during 2017 in the newspapers Sur, La Opinión de Málaga and Málaga Hoy. The results confirm the relevance of this phenomenon in the local media, and how its treatment is characterized by the use of a high number of specialized terms, the group of contents and the use of informative, interpretative and argumentative genres. All these conclusions bolster the autonomous status of this reporting field.

La semana Santa es una tradición formada por muchos elementos culturales: materiales e inmateriales. Estos últimos al no ser percibidos físicamente hace que no sean tan conocidos. En este artículo, vamos a dar a conocer estos elementos, que forman parte de los que se conoce como patrimonio cultural inmaterial, y que son tan importantes para conocer la semana santa. Vamos a investigar, cómo están conectados con la identidad propia de esta costumbre, qué les diferencia de los elementos materiales, y sobre todo conocer cuáles son los factores que pueden provocar su desaparición.
Además, el análisis se complementa con una investigación antropológica sobre la actual situación de los cofrades de Zaragoza con el objetivo de conocer la tendencia a la que se dirige esta tradición tan importante en la ciudad de Zaragoza.

RESUMEN: Este pequeño artículo trata sobre cómo fue la semana santa de Úbeda en el año 1614, qué cofradías existían, en qué conventos se establecían, bajo qué jurisdicción parroquial se encontraban y a qué hora realizaban sus procesiones. Datos basados en la trascripción de un juicio de 1614 conservado en el archivo de la catedral de Jaén. ABSTRACT: This little article talks about the holy week of Úbeda in 1614. We´re asking as this was, the number of brotherhoods, in what convents were they? and when they came out? These dates are based in the transcript of a trial of 1614. This file is conserved in the archive of cathedral of Jaén.

At the climax of the Coptic Great Friday service, the Coptic tradition observes certain ritual practices of a clear physical nature, inviting the bodily participation of those present. These practices are namely a series of one hundred prostrations in each cardinal direction, followed by a seven-fold procession of the cross and burial icon of Christ around the church’s altar and nave. The procession culminates in the “entombment” of this same icon on the altar, covered with rose petals and spices and wrapped in a white cloth. In this article, I explore the phenomenon of bodily participation inherent in these rituals. This is accomplished by analyzing the origins of these rituals in relation to the liturgical traditions of other Eastern Christian communities as well as within the historical development of the Coptic liturgical tradition.

The "cantores" are male Sardinian performers who sing traditional polyvocal religious songs in churches and confraternities, to musically enrich functions and religious processions. The polyvocality of Sardinian music, in general, is usually composed by four voices: “su bassu” (basso), “sa contra” (or cronta, controvoce), “sa voche” (voce) e sa mesuvoche (mezza voce). The “cantores de cresia” (church singers) are specialists in the liturgical repertoire, “cantores de sas corfarias” (singers of the brotherhoods) in paraliturgical chants. In Sardinia, religious polyvocality is often (but not always) indicated by expressions as "a cuncordu". The essay (2001) is in memory of Giovanni Dore (organologist, 1930-2009).

Surely one of the most poignant and dramatic liturgical ceremonies of the Armenian Church is Dṙnbac‘ēk‘, “The Opening of the Door,” which takes place in the evening of Palm Sunday. Even in the substantially reduced form in which the ritual is conducted practically universally today in Armenian monasteries and parish churches, the ceremony culminates in a dramatic dialogue between two clergy positioned on either side of the closed church door (or, more commonly today, the altar curtain). Around a lattice of plaintive hymns derived from Psalm 117(118):19-20, one clergy, speaking on behalf of the people, knocks on the door and pleads for admittance, while the other, speaking on behalf of the heavenly Judge, defends the gates of the Kingdom against encroachment by the unworthy. The ceremony reaches its denouement as the door (or the altar curtain) is opened and the people enter the church. This essay compares the the ceremony with similar services in other traditions, and explores its possible origins in connection with the strange custom arising in some medieval Armenian monasteries of expelling the people from the church for the duration of Great Lent and shutting the doors. A complete English translation of the service is included.

Veliki tjedan u crkveno-pučkoj baštini širokobriješkog kraja U radu se opisuje razdoblje Velikog tjedna u crkveno-pučkoj baštini Širokog Brijega. Veliki tjedan se smatra čvorištem crkvene i liturgijske godine. Vrijeme Velikog tjedna je ispunjeno trima krepostima, pokorom, postom i molitvom koji su ljudima pomagali u pripravi za nadolazeće vrijeme koje se veže uz muku i smrt Isusa Krista. U radu su navedeni suvremeni izvorni terenski zapisi molitvenih pjesama, običaja i vjerovanja koji su karakteristični za razdoblje od Cvjetne nedjelje do Velike subote. Posebna pozornost je posvećena svetom ili velikom trodnevlju, koje se izdiže bogatstvom pučko-crkvenih običaja. U znak na Isusovu posljednju večeru veže se običaj objedovanja zelja i običaj paljenja vatre na oranicama. Na Veliki petak bilježimo običaj pijenja crnog vina te izgovaranja molitvenih pjesama. Prema vjerovanju, molitvene pjesme koje su se molile na Veliki petak pripravljale su ljude na spasenje i ulazak u raj. Dani Velikog tjedna završavaju uskrsnim bdijenjem koje se događa u večeri Velike subote. Veliki dio navedenih običaja i vjerovanja prisutan je i danas u krajevima Zapadne Hercegovine, što govori o dubokoj religioznosti puka koja svjedoči koliki smisao religioznost pruža suvremenim ljudima. Ključne riječi: korizma, molitvene pjesme, običaji, Veliki tjedan, vjerovanja. Uvod Običaji definiraju kulturu, vjerovanja i uopće bitak, stoga su iznimno važan segment identiteta naroda i čovječanstva. Elementi koje susrećemo kod narodnih običaja kombinacija su crkvenog i svjetovnog, duhovnog i materijalnog, tradicionalnog i modernog. U radu će biti opisano razdoblje Velikog tjedna, koje započinje Isusovim svečanim ulaskom u Jeruzalem, čega se prisjećamo na blagdan Cvjetnice, ili Cvjetne nedjelje, nakon čega slijedi podrobniji opis velikih dana u duhovno-pučkoj baštini Zapadne Hercegovine. Naime, iako nam Novi zavjet, posebice četiri evanđelja, pružaju uvid u cijeli Isusov ovozemaljski život, veliki je tjedan, posebice trodnevlje, moguće rekonstruirati do samih detalja, zahvaljujući podrobnim opisima novozavjetnih pisaca. Veliko trodnevlje se smatra glavnim žarištem crkvene i liturgijske godine.

Las representaciones artísticas asociadas a la Semana Santa tienen en la Nueva España un protagonismo especial que continúa de alguna manera la omnipresencia que la muerte tenía en las artes desde la época prehispánica. De las imágenes de Mictlantecuhtli, señor del inframundo, y su dualidad femenina, Mictecacihuatl, la señora de la muerte, se pasa a nuevas representaciones fruto de una conquista ideológica protagonizada por la llegada del cristianismo. La nueva religión transforma la dualidad mesoamericana muerte/vida mediante una idea moralizante de la muerte relacionada con la tradición europea del ars morendi que dio lugar a un sincretismo todavía visible en la Semana Santa mexicana.
En el presente texto vamos a analizar el caso particular de la Semana Santa de Yanhuitlán, localidad del estado mexicano de Oaxaca. En ella, desde el siglo XVI, la procesión del Santo Entierro representa la pasión y muerte de Cristo dramatizando los pasajes del calvario de acuerdo al texto de un sermonario. Del patrimonio relacionado con esta tradición se conserva un gran número de crucificados así como una colección de arcángeles que portan los emblemas de la pasión, destacando, por su particularidad, la “carreta de la muerte”, un esqueleto entronizado que abría el cortejo. Mediante los textos de Fray Agustín Dávila Padilla, que a finales del siglo XVI describe esta procesión, y el análisis de las obras barrocas conservadas nos acercaremos a la representación de la pasión en Yanhuitlán en la época novohispana y su transformación hasta el momento actual.

From a national point of view Arbëresh culture has been marginalised and abandoned as the one of a “language minority,” with the result that it is no longer officially taught at school. On the other hand, music had always played a key role in community life and the combination of this rare language and sound never failed to make a great impression on everyone, no matter if they understand or not. It still accompanies the Arbëresh through the life cycle, during important feasts, carnival, weddings and funerals. In my introductory essay I try to look at these rich expressions from a different angle, by the recognition of common features the Arbëresh share with other communities of Southern Italy like tarantella and kalimera, regardless the linguistic competences concerning Balkan dialects which once dominated “Il Sud,” and regardless the religious background and the rite of these communities. Thus, the very distinct forms of Albanian music, which sometimes have only survived in the Italian diaspora, can be described by certain unique genres like the vallje and the ajrët, and a kind of multipart song which has been identified by ethnomusicologists as world heritage of the Balkans and of Italy.

Durante siglos, la idea de que los judíos son un pueblo maldito o despreciado por Dios, ha dado pie a que se generen doctrinas religiosas y políticas que busquen su destrucción, aislamiento o exilio. Con el paso del tiempo la idea contra el pueblo hebreo se institucionalizó en dogmas eclesiásticos y prácticas de diferentes matices que darían con persecuciones y asesinato de individuos y comunidades hebreas en diferentes partes del mundo, principalmente del mundo cristiano.

Conforme la sociedad fue dejando atrás el oscurantismo de la época dominada por los religiosos y pudieron tener acceso por sí mismos al conocimiento de las interpretaciones bíblicas, pero algunos elementos de odio contra los judíos se transmitió de forma heredada, y la desconfianza pasaba del plano religioso, a temas sociales, políticos y económicos. Muchos de los cuales se convirtieron en libelos de generaciones, que se convirtieron en textos de conspiración hebrea y que motivaron políticas contra los judíos en diferentes lugares.

En la actualidad, los libelos y doctrinas evolucionadas del concepto de pueblo rechazado, se ha trasladado a las acciones políticas ejercidas por el Estado de Israel, y cualquier circunstancia que ocurra en esa zona despertará de nuevo los conceptos antiguos de odio judío, retransmitidos con otras caras en un desprecio hacia políticas contra los israelíes.

My article, building on fieldwork carried out between 2013 and 2015, focuses on the importance, significance and specificity that the religious and devotional processions have in many Apulian sites. This is particularly clear for the Holy Week, whose rituality is generally characterized by a complex and manifold set of performances primarily taking place within and along the city/ town streets. Referring to the Bakhtinian concept of chronotope, the street may be regarded as a liminal space-time where the inhabitants meet, confront each other and live day by day, giving rise to the everyday and common dimension of their existence. Yet, on given occasions (during the Holy Week, for instance), the streets can be turned into a sort of open stage, temporarily and exclusively dwelt with and managed by certain individuals and groups, first and foremost the laical confraternities. These people, through their performances, act as mediators between the common and the uncommon, the secular and the sacred, the worldly and the otherworldly; in so doing, they stage a ritual drama by which some sacred symbols (in particular the simulacra representing Christian figures and dogmas) leave their ordinary, static dimension (enclosed in the churches) to acquire an extraordinary, dynamic, and more engaging role. Nowadays, this is an essential means through which local communities seek both to preserve/strengthen their identity and to promote their cultural heritage.

Over the course of the Early Modern period, Spanish penitential confraternities commissioned life-size polychrome wood sculptures for their public processions during Holy Week. The special requirements of these processions led to the development of a unique sculptural genre. In the street, not only must the image "read" over a substantial distance and from multiple viewpoints, but it must also be highly charged with expression in order to elicit an emotional response from the audience. The sculpture must not simply represent: it must at once invoke, evoke, and provoke. This paper explores the twofold dynamic that occurred between patron and artist, and between image and audience, in order to determine how these works were created and how they functioned within the ritual context of the penitential procession. Artistic contracts and contemporary chronicles document particular attention to the physical form and detail of the images, and to their ability to move the viewer to devotion. The relationship between form and ritual context is thus significantly revealed.

Article for "ITSTIME– Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues & Managing Emergencies", the webjournal of the research center of Department of Sociology of the Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan: September 4, 2020.
In June 2020, a French newspaper used a photo of the "Incappucciati" (a Catholic procession) of Sorrento (Italy) in an article that talked about something else, namely members of the Ku Klux Klan. This is a gaffe discovered by the Italian anthropologist Giovanni Gugg, who in this article explains the digital responsibility of each of us.

We present a document that shows a contract between the brotherhood of the True Cross of Santibáñez de Valcorba (Valladolid) and the painter Martín Alderete, about a sculpture of the crucified Christ for the brotherhood's processions and that could be put in relation with the one that is situated on the top of the main altar piece of the parish church of the village.

Estudio de la obra de San Pedro de la Hermandad de dicho nombre de la Cofradía del Beso de Judas de la ciudad de Jumilla, Murcia, desaparecida en la Guerra Civil, y que se conoce a través de fotografías antiguas. Obra que se ha atribuido bien a Francisco Salzillo, bien a su discípulo Roque López.

Intervista concessa a Fabrizio Geremicca, per "Corriere del Mezzogiorno", 11 giugno 2020. Un periodico francese pubblica una foto della processione degli Incappucciati di Sorrento del Venerdì Santo con una immagine del KKK. Dopo la segnalazione di GUGG, il giornale ha corretto.

Colaboración en: Revista informativa de la Hdad. de la Sagrada Entrada. El Viso del Alcor. Sevilla. 1, pp. 42 - 45. Hermandad y Cofradía de Nazarenos de Ntro. Padre Jesús de la Salud en su Sagrada Entrada Triunfal en Jerusalén, María Santísima de la Paz y Santiago Apóstol

Il quinto di una serie di articoli dedicati ai riti durante la pandemia di Covid-19 del 2020-2021. Qui il tema è un unico rito, effettuato su una nave-cargo in navigazione sull'oceano Atlantico durante la Settimana Santa del 2020: il capitano ha effettuato una processione con il suo equipaggio alla maniera del tradizionale e imponente corteo funebre di Sorrento, sua città di origine.