Za križen

The procession Za križen every year starts at exactly at 22 hours so that six Processions start simultaneously from six Parish churches from the middle part of the island, in villages Vrbanj, Vrboska, Jelsa, Pitve, Vrisnik and Svirče. Every Procession revolves in that big circle, so that at 7 in the morning every one would return in its own starting point. Every procession is led by a crossbearer carrying a cross. The role of the crossbearer is an immense honor on the island, and is determined as many as 20 years in advance. The crossbearer goes in the accompaniment of helpers, two followers that carry the big candle holders, two lead singers and several responders that sing the Gospin plač. All are dressed in formal suits – white brotherhood tunics. By number, the biggest one is the Procession of Jelsa, in which the number of pilgrims can surpass one thousand. Others are significantly smaller, and only the one from the village Pitve can surpass one hundred pilgrims. The Procession of Jelsa is also specific after the custom that the crossbearer runs across the last hundred meters of the way. Passing through all six villages included in the procession, the participants show their piety in all the churches on the way. The priest in every of the churches blesses the crossbearer and encourages him, and the singers sing the Gospin plač, and the walking continues. The processions must not meet, and to accomplish this, their movements are carefully coordinated. During the way, the pilgrims pray and sing, and particularly impressive is the singing of the Gospin plač in the original form. On Good Friday these six villages relax, until the pious people have rested from the exhausting night. Only in the afternoon hours the villages come to life when the locals go to participate in the piety of the Holy Week.