Processions: "Incappucciati" (the hooded) of Sorrento and the Passion of the Whites and the Blacks

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Throughout the Sorrento peninsula, hooded people illuminate the streets and narrow decumani with their torches, creating an evocative silence that envelops those who, on the sides of the road, follow the slow and composed pace of the procession.

This penitential ritual was born in 1300 with laic people flagellating themselves, then in the 16th century they became religious events deeply felt by the locals who passed down their place in procession from father to son.

There are various processions organized by the many brotherhoods of the towns of the peninsula and they are distinguished from each other by the color of the robes, the exit times and the choirs that accompany them, but they all share the so-called “misteri”:the symbols of the crucifixion of Jesus such as the nails, the shroud, the bag with the thirty pennies of Judas, the basin in which Pontius Pilate washed his hands etc… . Each procession opens with the choirs of children or women accompanied by the band , while towards the end, the strong smell of incense that now fills the whole air is joined by the male voices of the hooded choirs who sing the a cappella “Miserere” to complete the rite. .

The best known is the one of Sorrento which begins with the procession of “Our Lady of Sorrows”, the “Visit to the Sepulchres”, better known as the “Processione Bianca” organized by the Arciconfraternita of Santa Monica, where in the early night hours of Friday all the brothers with white tunic and hood, they carry around the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows visiting the various sepulchres in search of her son until the first light of dawn. Instead the procession of the “dead Christ”, also known as the “processione nera”, is organized by the “Venerabile Arciconfraternita della morte” and so in this procession, in addition to the deposed Christ, the martyrs of Christ are exalted such as the nails, the spear that pierced the torso and the dice of Judas. In this one the brothers wear black suits and hoods and the songs of the miserere are characterized by the sound of a trumpet at each crossroads.

Both processions are opened with the roll of drums that breaks into the silence of the darkness, the wooden statues of the Mary and Christ are carried on the shoulders by those who pass down their roles from father to son, then little by little the procession unfolds with torches, martyrs and funeral marches played by the musical band, until reaching the heart of the most evocative part, the final Miserere in Gregorian style and Latin verses sung by three hundred singers.