Good Friday in Ancient Enna Sicily

At first glance any American would recoil at the image of what appears to be masses of people processing in the night, adorned with pointed cone-shaped hoods and white cloths covering their faces with cut-out eyeholes. Any reminiscences of the Klan and the horror they inflicted on black Americans is fraught with terror and evil-meaning intent. Scholars believe that in the years immediately following the Civil War as many as 10,000 blacks were lynched and in the intervening years untold others were terrorized and murdered. It is also thought that the Paris trained costume designer for D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, Clare West, may have been influenced by the ancient traditions of Europe during Holy Week, specifically the Spanish tradition dating from the 15th century of donning robes and hoods during the Easter week processions. In Enna, this tradition continues today as the many religious confraternities turn out for a day long solemn procession throughout the city--Enna was at one point under Spanish domination. In fact the millennia has seen countless periods of domination by one country or another in Sicily. Today, in utter humility, this tradition continues as hundreds of extremely pious members of the city's various churches don elaborate robes, hoods and gloves, adorned with some of the elaborate beautifully crocheted lace Sicily is known for around the world, which denote their particular confraternity. I was generously given exclusive access as a photo journalist to the Confraternity and Church of the Holy Saviour, the oldest of the 16 Confraternities in Enna having been founded in 1261. As the men gathered and greeted each other, began their preparations and ultimately carried off the nearly 4000 lb statue of Jesus to join the day long procession to join the Mary statue at the Duomo and join the other confraternities, I was allowed inside the tradition to document the process. Their seriousness of purpose and solemnity was palpable. No matter what religion or faith one adheres to, it's hard not to be drawn into the process and emotion of the moment. My three week long travels around the island of Sicily in search of all that was ancient, including my own family roots began here in Enna, included Palermo, Corleone, Randazzo, Siracusa, Catania, Vittoria, Caltagirone, Agrigento and ultimately the small village of Pietraperzia where my grandparents were born at the turn of the century.