Paper short abstract:

The Good Friday parade in Verolengo, a town near Turin, is a particularly striking example of Italian folk religious practice. The video presents the feast and describes the rites, their meanings and its tradition by documenting the feast and collecting the experiences of the protagonists of the ritual.

Paper long abstract:

The Good Friday procession in Verolengo, a town in the metropolitan area of Turin, is an event of great emotional intensity and an important example of Italian folk religious public practices.

The documentary was shot in 2014. It describes the feast, its preparation, rituals and the different characters that parade during the night.

The voices and the experiences of the villagers, in particular Maria's, one of the elders of the community, explain the social meaning of the parade, and the motivation that spurs the community on continuing the ritual every year. In fact, what it may appear just an echo from the past is an intimate and lively practice of faith for the people of Verolengo.

The documentary, thus, offers a contribution to the ethnography of Italian communities by shedding light on the link between religion and local identity through the narration of the rite.