In the Maltese Islands I know of at least 17 Good Friday processions taking place concurrently throughout the land. The first statue to come out of the church shows normally this scene – Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to be delivered from the hardship shich awaits him while an angel with a cup of myrrh tries to console and give him courage. There is one particular procession – at Qormi - which starts on a different theme with a colossal statue of the Last Supper showing the life-size figures of Christ and the 12 Apostles at the Last Supper.
A statue is carried shoulder high by between 8 to 10 men (depending of the weight) and the procession goes round the oldest district of the town or village.
I captured 2 of different statues like this one – at Naxxar and Mosta but have preferred the Naxxar one. Except for the cross which is made of wood, all the rest of the statue is made of papier mache (have mentioned this in my carnival pictures) but unlike the carnival floats which are destroyed after the carnival, these are kept in niches or safely stored for the next year. Many of them are older than 100 years.
With regards to your query, Shanne, yesterdays picture was of Mater Dolorosa not Mater Desolata (perhaps they have the same meaning though)
Thank you so very much for looking and for your lovely comments on yesterday’s picture.
Beautiful picture of a stunning statue, it must be amazing to be in Malta to celebrate this. There's an Italian (I think) youtube here of the Maria Desolata http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjMgoFtWd8o - but it seems a mixture of things.
This is beautiful Dione. I imagine this would be a very moving experience to see the story of the Passion paraded around the village in these lovely statues. I am not Catholic, but in my religious studies I understand Dolorosa to be "suffering" (the Via Dolorosa is the Way of Suffering) and it seems to me that Desolata would be about Mary's despair in watching her Son die on the cross. Maybe Desolata is desolation? I am just guessing. I also love how you processed this to highlight the beauty and subject of the statue.
