Religious Rite Takes Hamlet Back in Time Every Seven Years

Religious Rite Takes Hamlet Back in Time Every Seven Years
Older residents or those who have not been chosen to play a character also make themselves comfortable along the streets, with chairs
and umbrellas to tolerate the sun and the many hours of waiting.
At the windows overlooking the square, some older villagers wondered whether they would live long
enough to see her again in another seven years, and dried their eyes with white handkerchiefs.
Every seven years, time stops again, and the Madonna, though undoubtedly a religious icon, also becomes a member of the community.
enti" — penitents who flagellate themselves with nails — wear white robes, disguising
their identities, in what is said to be intimate repentance. that batt
Villagers wake up at dawn to dress up, put on makeup
and then gather in the narrow streets around their church, awaiting an order to march, each in their position.
The seven-hour procession under a scorching August sun, through narrow medieval streets built when only horses
and people needed them, is itself an act of sacrifice.
Others held a wood cross in one hand and used the other hand to jab a rounded cork with
dozens of nails into their chests repeatedly, in a gesture of physical atonement.