PhD Program in Historical studies
The Holy Week in Sardinia
Sa Chida Santa (Holy Week in Sardinian) is a ritual moment full of liturgical and para-liturgical actions, respectively celebrated by the Church and by the confraternities. The Sardinian Easter (sa Pasca manna) is Catalan influenced and retains some traces of the ancient Semitic rites: the Chenàpura of Holy Friday (similar to the Hebrew fast) and is allichirongius de Pasca (ritual cleansing of the house).
The rites of the Holy Week in Sardinia, as often happens, are held in a improvised manner with respect to the normal chronology of the Passion of Christ. Sometimes, in fact, the Calvary of Jesus also goes on to be staged on Holy Monday (Oristano) or Tuesday (SassariOn Holy Tuesday Sassari’s confraternities carry two types of misteri in procession: the wooden statue groups representing scenes of the Passion of Christ dating from the seventeenth century and the symbols of his martyrdom.). In most towns, however, the celebrations revolve around two moments: s’Iscravamentu (the unnailing of the statue of Christ from the Cross, which takes place on Good Friday, after the crucifixion: S’Incravamentu) and S’incontru (the meeting between the Mother and the resurrected Son on Easter Sunday). In the Sardinian ritual there are, of course, the processions of the Cross with the Dead Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows (which usually take place on Good Friday).
In larger cities, however, the re-enactment of the Passion, while counting the rituals described above, is more complex and includes the classic procession of the Misteri (sos Mysterios in Sardinian), both as symbolic objects of the Passion (the chalice, glove, rope, chain, whip, the scale, the crown of thorns) and as groups of statues depicting its most intense scenes. The groups of statues and objects of the Passion at Castelsardo parade together on Monday and Tuesday in Sassari. Alghero and Iglesias, however, the confraternities only carry wooden effigies in procession, while in Cagliari there are even two processions of the Misteri with statues.