Year of foundation: 1789

Last performance: -

Next performance: -

Playing interval: Annual

Performances per interval: 2

Venue type: Procession

Number of contributors: 1000

Website: www.processionimendrisio.ch

E-Mail: info@processionimendrisio.ch

The origins of the processions are uncertain. Some historical documents confirm that they already took place at the end of the 17th century, but they are probably even older. The years have been counted, however, only since 1798, when they were reorganised and took on their present structure.
The Maundy Thursday procession, locally known as the "Function of the Jews” ("Funziun di Giüdee”) and formerly organised by the Brotherhood of the Holy Sacrament, has a certain affinity with the holy Medieval performances which took place first in churches, then outside in the streets or squares, thus becoming performances for the masses. Through the years the holy performance has changed into the journey of Christ to Calvary . There is a part for all the Hebrew and Roman characters who played a role in the greatest drama that ever moved humanity - the Passion and sentence of the Nazarene to shameful death on the cross. The actors are all local men and women. Tradition demands that the name of the person who interprets Christ remains secret till the end of the procession.
The Good Friday procession, also called the Burial procession (Enterro), is older than the other; it is not possible to establish an exact date of origin, but it was started by the Servants of Mary, although it was the community of Mendrisio, which that took on the expenses for its organisation. About 700 people representing confraternities and pious associations take part in this procession, of a marked religious and liturgical nature. Boys and girls wear a long white tunic with a coloured mozzetta on top to distinguish the various groups. Items carried are: lanterns painted with drawings of the Passion of all shapes and lit by candles, crosses and the instruments of the Passion, among which can be mentioned, since they are the most typical, the traitor’s bag, the gloved hand of the slap, the cock of perjury and the title of the cross. The ancient simulacrum of the dead Christ is carried on shoulders (a document confirms its existence as early as 1670) as well as the statue of the Virgin of the Seven Sorrows. The melancholy notes of music bands accompany the slow winding of the procession, which ends with the black communal banner.

Mendrisio