This is the second group of photos taken Friday, May 31, at the 25th-annual procession of Mary led by the Patriarch of Venice from the church of San Francesco della Vigna to the basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Some explanation of the event can be found in the prior post (Part 1). Click on each photo to see in full resolution.
Sigh...wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. I would love to have taken part. We process our statue of Mary on the feast of the Assumption. We started this 6 years ago. Very unBritish, especially for the C of E, but a wonderful time. Haven't experienced the negativity you saw but it is on Sunday morning and they are probably still in bed!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrew; I find the processions with Mary particularly interesting, not least of all (if you'll excuse me for saying this) for the pre-Christian elements that still seem to persist in them. I don't think I appreciated the power of a procession before. As for those who'd sleep through the hour of a morning service: the next day Jen visited some friends whose out-of-town house guests, here for the Biennale, were just getting up at 3 pm.
DeleteOur Madonna is robed in blue brocade and both she and the bambino are crowned for the special day. We have a big party (in English slang- a bun feast) afterwards. You're right about the pre-Christian bit but we like to think God wants us to party, so we do!
ReplyDeletePerhaps your friends' guests were jetlagged? Let's excuse them with that, eh?
I'm afraid, Andrew, that your festivities are sounding almost pagan! Or Sicilian. They make my mind go back (willingly) to an old movie "The Wicker Man" from, I think, 1970, with Britt Ekland, set on some seemingly-idyllic British isle whose quaint close-knit community celebrates rituals that, it turns out, aren't quite standard C of E fare. Aside from the absence of the young Britt Ekland, yours sound more fun.
DeleteI hadn't thought about jet lag for those guests but, yes, I suppose the time change when traveling from France to Italy can be brutal!
Oh, thank you so much for sharing this moving experience (I'm not sure I can call it a tradition, not for a couple hundred more years, perhaps).
ReplyDeleteAnd, among all of your excellent images, the one that really caught my eye was of the little chapel in the first photo. I have never seen it open; now I know when I have to be in Venice to get a glimpse inside it!
I look forward to more of your on-the-ground reports.
I had never seen it open, either, Yvonne! I was hurrying to the church that night, literally running late, and the sight of it wide open almost made me stop and explore, but I kept right on to S Francesco della Vigna. So I never actually got to go inside of it, as the next time I saw it I was with the procession and we just paused a short time. There must be some other feast on which they open it, though.
DeleteMy favourite is the one with the nun and the altar servers viewed under the statue. Looks like a Joseph Wright of Derby painting. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteExcept that Joseph Wright of Derby probably never painted nuns scolding altar boys...but I see what you mean now, the candlelight & shadows and even the look of the faces in them. I snapped that particular pic as I knew first-hand, as a long-time Catholic school student (or inmate?), just what was going on: having attracted the unwanted attention of nuns during ceremonies myself. I'm happy you liked it.
DeleteWhat a lovely thing to not only witness, but to participate in. Like Yvonne, I have never seen that little chapel open, what a treat.
ReplyDeleteShame about the candle-stealer though...
I was surprised by how well-attended and, well, I guess you could "spirited" it was, Susie.
DeleteI think I was probably the only one in a position to notice the candle stealers--well, except, perhaps, for that Someone-Who-Sees-All--and as there were plenty of candles, it didn't affect the ceremony. Of course, stealing from churches, temples and other sanctuaries never seems like such a good idea... But more troubling to me were the 10 (in two different groups) or so people I saw sneaking into the Biennale on the day it opened to the public. I won't tell you how or where (as I wouldn't want to encourage copy cats), but it really surprised me, and because Venice is hurting for money, it seemed especially out-of-line. The Biennale actually does some pretty great things for the community here--its free Carnevale for Kids during Carnevale is easily the best thing about that time--so these sneaks weren't exactly "sticking it to The Man", just to Venetians.