AFFRONTA

AFFRONTA. – An episode that characterizes many Holy Week processions, especially in the towns of central and southern Italy. While from one church, with part of the procession, the statue of the Dead Christ is carried out, supported in the arms of the faithful, another statue, depicting the Sorrowful Mother, in turn moves from another church and is carried through the streets of the town to simulate the search that the Holy Mother makes for her Son. At a certain point the two statues meet, amid the most intense manifestations of religious fervor on the part of all the people: this encounter is called, in various places, l’affrontata, or confronto, or also giunta. Similar episodes are also found in processions held on other feast days. In some places, at the moment of the encounter, doves, sparrows, or swallows are released into the air.