Sacred groups of the Mysteries of Erice
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The Sacred Groups of the Mysteries of Erice are statuary groups that are carried in procession on Good Friday.
The groups are made of wood, canvas and glue depicting "Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane", "Christ scourged at the column", "Christ crowned with thorns", "Christ with the cross on his shoulders" in addition to the urn containing the "Christ taken down from the cross" and the statue of the "Virgin of Sorrows".
The oldest information about this ancient procession, known as the "rites of the casazze", and the presence of "wooden statues" date back to 1742, when 55 characters participated in the animated representation. It was a kind of theatrical performance with the recitation of passages from the Old and New Testament and living groups depicting the passion of Christ. The main theater of the representation was the churchyard of the Addolorata Church and from here the characters moved towards the four parish churches, the church of Sant'Antonio, the church of San Cataldo, the church of San Giuliano and the Duomo, inside the which resumed the representation. The "characters" were followed by the statue of Mary of Sorrows, by the urn containing the body of Christ, by the "vattenti", that is men who beat their bodies hard, and by the clergy in penitential clothes, with crowns of thorns on their heads and ropes. to the neck.
Over the years the number of wooden characters decreases drastically due to the high costs, the Church begins not to tolerate the corporal rites of the flogging of the flesh and the entry into the churches of any procession is subsequently abolished. All this put an end to the “rites of the casazze”. The last representation in which the wooden characters appeared dates back to April 18, 1851.
Today the ancient tradition of the "rites of the casazze" lives again in the more sober procession of Good Friday.
