The countdown to the holidays has begun. Christmas markets, mulled wine, ice skating — around the world, on every continent, people are starting to gear up to get into the festive spirit.
But one Sicilian town is already focusing on what comes next: Easter.
Caltanissetta, dead in the center of the Mediterranean’s largest island, is renowned across Italy for its Easter celebrations and parades.
Forget chocolate egg hunts and cute bunnies; think lifesize figures narrating the Passion of Christ in lacerating detail, devout worshippers tramping barefoot through the city streets, and the keys to the city being handed over to a member of the public. In the past, the celebrations even entailed setting a convict free from jail. Sadly, for those currently banged up in Caltanissetta, this is one tradition that has remained firmly in the past.
The Easter traditions — which are still so deeply felt that Caltanissetta emigrés return each year to celebrate in their thousands — date back centuries.
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