Holy Week is one of the most evocative, joyful and well-attended moments in the year, during which the town reveals its beauty in full with exciting folk re-enactments.
Holy Week in Assisi is one of the most evocative moments of the year, as the numerous, more strictly spiritual events mix with some of the most fascinating, ancient, ritual, paraliturgical traditions in Umbria.
The wait up to Easter is a joyful, popular moment as spring reawakens, during which the town reveals its beauty in full.
There are two rites of special interest for their folklore and the evocative power they have: the Scavigliazione and the Procession of the dead Christ, which are held on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
At the end of the religious services on the Thursday in the Cathedral of San Rufino, the traditional ritual of the Scavigliazione begins, in which a life-size statue of Jesus is taken down from the cross thanks to a zip across the shoulder blades that enable it to be detached and the arms to be folded down.
The statue is then carried through the historic streets into the Basilica of St. Francis the following morning, where it is left at the Saint’s tomb in a sepulchre for the faithful to worship.
The return to the Cathedral at night on Good Friday is one of the most moving, evocative moments of Easter week. The statues of the dead Christ and of Our Lady of Sorrows are taken through the torch-lit streets, while those representing the hooded brothers of the Confraternities working in the town walk barefoot with a crown of thorns on their heads carrying heavy wooden crosses on their shoulders.
