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According to tradition, the pilgrimage takes place on the night of July 25 and starts from the church of San Giacomo, in the Bellia area. It is performed exclusively by women and by a few men who accompany the procession given the late hour.
The ritual associated with this pilgrimage is very strict, under penalty of forfeiture of the vow: the procession leaves at midnight; the pilgrims begin their journey by making the sign of the cross and must carry a cane cut into seven knots; the pilgrimage must be made in complete silence and without stopping; the pilgrims must line up and cannot turn back or to the side.
All of these rituals have the aim of simulating living death.
The procession, having reached the chapel of Santa Croce, will make the return journey to St. James on whose roof the reeds carried by the pilgrims will be thrown.
Several anecdotes have been handed down orally about the journey of the dead. Among the many, it is said that a man saw two women pass in procession and that in one of these he recognized his own dead mother.
Today the journey of the dead to Piazza Armerina is a practice that has almost completely disappeared.
