Naslov
The Procession with the Cross: The Penitence of a Renaissance Adriatic Island

Autori
Sardelić, Mirko

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, neobjavljeni rad, znanstveni

Skup
Religious Materiality and Emotions

Mjesto i datum
Adelaide, Australija, 16.02.2016. - 18.02.2016

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
'Za Križen', Easter processions, Religious Emotions, Hvar

Sažetak
‘Za krizen’, or the Procession with the Cross, is held on the island of Hvar on the night between Holy Thursday and Good Friday. It takes the form of a circular path connecting six parishes – Jelsa, Pitve, Vrisnik, Svirce, Vrbanj and Vrboska – and began as a penitential procession spurred on by the miraculous event of the Holy Little Cross which was reported to have wept blood in 1510. The processions, one from each village, move from the parish churches at midnight, led by selected cross- bearers who walk barefoot along the circular route of twenty five kilometers. The people in the procession carry candles in their hands and sing ‘Our Lady’s Tears’, a chant with a distinctive late medieval melodic line. In 2009, ‘Za krizen’ was inscribed on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The paper discusses how religious objects and embodied religious practices reflect social and political struggles on this early modern Adriatic island. It focuses in particular on the crosses featured in the ritual – including the bleeding cross of 1510 and the huge wooden ones used in present-day processions – and the historical and political landscape of Hvar. The Venetian-ruled island was marked by intense conflict between noblemen and commoners at this period and the miracle of the bleeding cross contributed toward a reconciliation between the two sides. The physical landscape of the ritual is also suggestive. The walk still proceeds around island villages which are situated in the oldest fully-preserved centuriated Greek ager in the Adriatic, adding a historical- landscape component to this religious and social history told through a long tradition of vernacular piety. The procession creates a deep mark on those who lead the procession, having been inscribed in the book of the future cross- bearers at their birth. But it also has great emotional and spiritual impact on all members of processions: penitents walk all night with wax on their hands, following the cross and chanting solemnly in each of the six churches in turn, but always making sure that they don’t meet other processions which is taken as a sign of bad luck.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Povijest

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