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Dance of the Devils: Holy Week
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When:
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16 - 23 Mar 2008 (annual)
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Where:
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Prizzi
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| Costs: |
Free
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The cosmic struggle between good and evil rages in the remote village of Prizzi, Sicily, every Easter, when villagers wearing large and terrifying iron masks perform the Dance of the Devils.
This archaic festival has medieval origins; the re-enactments on Easter Sunday are the culmination of rituals spanning the whole of the Holy Week. Death and the devils rampage through the village to collect their dues: the souls of the passers-by.
On Palm Sunday afternoon - a week before Easter - a villager representing Jesus enters the town riding a horse. On the Thursday, the last supper is commemorated in the churches, and on the Friday, a procession takes a chalk effigy of Jesus up to the Calvary, which is reached at midday on the dot. The effigy is then "crucified", to be deposed from the cross at the appearance of the first evening star, and laid to rest in church, where it is left for the whole of Saturday.
At 6am on Easter Sunday the forces of evil come to claim the town; two devils and Death appear before the church and bow, maybe as an act of contrition on the part of the actors. Then they haunt each quarters of the town, trying in vain to prevent the meeting of Jesus with the Virgin Mary, and are eventually slain by angels.
Prizzi is situated in a beautiful landscape typical of inland Sicily. It is well worth exploring the nearby towns, which include the famous Corleone.
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