Dictionaries define a procession as a number of people, vehicles or animals moving in an orderly fashion usually as part of a formal ceremonial event.

Over the centuries, in Europe, processions have characterised religious celebrations, those reserved for the clergy, pilgrimages of the faithful and mixed activities with confraternities.

Ceremonial processions, religious or otherwise, have been recorded in most cultures throughout most eras.

One of the major processions in the 1913 International Eucharistic Congress passing through Floriana.

Early post-war Christmas procession with Infant Jesus in Żabbar.

The altarpiece of the Immaculate Conception of Cospicua carried processionally in 1944.

Devotional cortèges are documented in early records but also in art – they formed part of Girolamo Gianni’s repertoire; Edward Caruana Dingli, who rarely took inspiration from religious motives, also attempted this genre, probably more enticed by its folkloric content than by mystic ones. 

The Corpus Christi procession turning into Merchants Street, Valletta, in the 1930s.

It had to be photography that went to town with religious processions – from the penitential, like id-Duluri (Our Lady of Sorrows), to the triumphant, like the Easter Sunday athletic sprinting of the statue of the Rxoxt (the Risen Christ); from children carrying Baby Jesus in Christmas to cyclists’ pilgrimages to Żabbar. 

The statue of the Veronica carried processionally through Valletta in the 1920s.

Spectacular crowd-pullers remain the Good Friday processions, popular manifestations of pious devotion, turned into elaborate theatrical pageants in motion. These started in Rabat, Vittoriosa and Valletta, probably in the 16th century, and became national events. 

A procession in an unidentified locality in Malta in the 1920s.

Today, the competition bet­ween towns and villages, like Qormi, Żebbuġ, Mosta, Senglea and Rabat in Malta and Victoria in Gozo, has become noticeable.

Various other localities have joined the fray. Probably following Spanish and Sicilian customs, some barefoot lay penitents behind the statues still mask their faces entirely in weird white hoods, often dragging heavy chains.

Post-war procession in Qormi in honour of Our Lady of Sorrows.

A 1920s view of the Crucifixion vara about to leave Senglea church.

The yearly festas of the patron saint in every parish also provide a major opportunity for devout and popular processions. The honour of holding high the tableau (vara) can be auctioned to the highest bidders.

All images from the author’s collections.

The altarpiece of the Immaculate Conception of Cospicua carried processionally in 1944.

A procession through Strada Reale, Valletta during the 1913 Eucharistic Congress. Photo: Salvatore Lorenzo Cassar