THE HOLY WEEK
A special intensity characterizes Caltanissetta’s Holy Week, enlivened by involving religious processions that perpetuate centuries-old traditions. The whole starts in the afternoon of Palm Sunday, with the procession of Jesus that commemorates the entry of the Christ in Jerusalem, preceded by the display and sale of plaited palm leaves and olive tree twigs before the main churches of the city. The most emotional ritual event takes place on Maundy Thursday, with the procession of the Mysteries: sixteen groups of big statues depicting moments of Jesus’s Passion and Death (almost the stations of the Via Crucis), parade, each preceded by a musical band, taking off from Piazza Garibaldi. Prior to facing the climb of Via XX Settembre, the procession stops around midnight to eat artichokes and hard-boiled, and drink plenty of wine. The Vare , mainly made by the Biangardis, Neapolitan sculptors active in the second half of 1800, appear majestic because their characters are made full-size. In the dead of night, the Vare return to their starting point in Piazza Garibaldi and are stripped of their flower decorations by the followers. After the silence of Holy Saturday, the bells of Easter Sunday toll joyously and the Capitano della Real Maestranza returns to the mayor the keys to the city, which he received on Wednesday, and then attends the solemn Mass celebrated by the bishop in the Cathedral.
