The Passion

Today we took a taxi to Marsala where we witnessed the Holy Thursday procession through the town.  This is a procession of actors who act out scenes from the Passion of Christ. Here, a woman (possibly Mary Magdalene or Mary, mother of Jesus) is pleading with Roman soldiers for his life.  The character of Jesus, wearing the crown of thorns, is wearing a mask which was used in the procession to portray him (if I remember correctly) after his arrest.

Every so often the actors would stop and act out a scene like this. There were multiple groups of actors, each group portraying a different scene.  The latter scenes from the procession showed Jesus and fellow convicts on their way to their execution being beaten and whipped (very forcefully!) by their captors.

The procession was watched and appreciated by the large crowds lining the streets, who applauded the scenes as they were acted out.

For me and my fellow photographers, this was a bit of a practice for the events in Trapani over the next couple of days.

This is back blipped because the intensity of our activities over several days allowed no time for editing and posting images and then I had no internet access for a couple of days.