The statue of the grief stricken Madonna, cloaked in an exquisitely designed floor length, black mourning cape, lined with silk and embroidered with golden thread, leaves the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Via Carlo V, Polizzi Generosa, on a wooden litter adorned with flowers. It follows a coffin carrying an effigy of her dead son.

And the silence of the late evening of Good Friday is the perfect backdrop for this dignified procession of the Madonna  'searching' through the hushed streets of Polizzi for her son.

The plaintive voices of the people and the confraternity of Santa Maria degli Agonizzanti echo as they follow the village priest and the ‘grieving mother.' The litter bearers move silently, stopping at various churches to recall the Stations of the Cross; a haunting evening procession.

Buona Pasqua

Salve,

Suzanne

Edited 25/8/2015: Please note that this blog was edited using some details given by Maria Culletta of The Sicilian House in Polizzi Generosa. I have not seen this procession firsthand. Suzanne