Gubbio

Procession of the Dead Christ

(Good Friday)
This is organized by the Confraternity of Santa Croce della Foce. It is a symbolic representation of Christ’s Passion, which has been repeated every year for centuries, following a tradition that has never been interrupted. The procession starts with lay brothers dressed in sackcloth and playing instruments called “battistrangole” that produce a rattling noise, and others carrying the objects characteristic of the Passion and the skull that symbolizes Golgotha. Then come the effigies of the Dead Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows, valuable wooden sculptures produced by local craftsmen. Behind the statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary the singers of the Miserere intone their chants, passed down through the centuries by oral tradition. The procession goes through the main streets of the town, starting at nightfall from the Church of Santa Croce. Big bonfires are lit in various places along the route.