One of the most treasured traditions of Holy Week in Molfetta is visiting the "sepulchres" on the evening of Holy Thursday. Every church in town creates its own interpretation of Christ's tomb and the streets are filled with Molfettans who walk from church to church to see them and say a prayer.Two things are important when "doing the sepulchres." The first is that you must visit an odd number of churches: 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. The second important aspect element of the evening is to eat a "pizzaridd," which is a tuna sandwich.
I forgot my memory stick at home (how could I?!) so my husband used his cellphone to take this photo of the sepulchre at the Church of Saint Anthony in the historical center. If you look carefully, you can see a statue of Jesus on the cross inside the entryway.
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6 comments:
I like this tradition. It's a nice way to recognize what Good Friday is about.
This is very strange tradition, I have to ask if there is something like this here.
If I forgot any part of my camera I don't know how to use my cellphone to take pictures. I'll have to ask my son...
I regret that I've never been to Molfetta during Easter...
We actually try to recreate this tradition in the US.... Although it seems we just interrupt mass during our visits...
This year we only visited 3 churches
What a wonderful tradition. I wish we had something like that here.
When I saw the thumbnail, I wondered what the 'eyes' were in the doorway! Glad to see that they're only candles. ;)
The visita iglesia is still popular here as a Maundy Thursday custom. The tradition is to visit 7 churches, though some make it 14 for the stations of the cross.
An interesting custom; a version of the Stations of the Cross. «Louis» is forwarding the link to this post to others he knows will be interested in seeing this.
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