Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1908-04-19
fAs seen by an Albuquerque young
woman at Easter. 1909


Some of the most unique and in
teresting Of, religious ceremonies are
yearly enacted in the beautiful medi-
aeval city of Florence Holy week
Is Allied with services of more or less
Significance to the native Tuscan and
OF great interest to the tourist.
4, One which is common to all Italy
Is called the pulza generate, 1t
means simply spring cleaning. The
italian housewife leaves little to be
desired In the way of spotless clean
illness and by Saturday everything is
as bright and clean as a new pin,
The food for Easter Sunday is all
cooked and the table spread, for on
Holy saturday all fires are extin-
guished to be rekindled from the sac
red fame. Then the priest comes. at
tended by two acolites, one with
censor, the other with holy water The
father visits every room in the house
and pronounces a short blessing in
zach. He is offered wine, and eggs,
few or many. according to the piety
or pretensions of the household, are
sent to his home
Holy Week is a period of gloom at
Florence. The churches are In
mourning A dark curtain hangs be-
fore every altar piece, leaving the
gray coldness unrelieved by even
these touches of brightness and color,
This is sad trial to the tourist
whose only alternative is to visit the
sepulchres, OF which one may be
found In almost every church. The
sepuichres represent the tomb Of
Christ and during the week all Is
dark ard somber with few candles
q and many dark kneeling figures, On
Faster Sunday they blossom out with
flowers and candles as many and as
tall as the church affords.
n The Mattutine dele Tenebre (Mat-
ins of Darkness) are sung on We'd
i1esday, Thursday and Friday at sew
erai of the most important churches.
The name is due to the fact that the
early Christians worshipped in the
darkness of tho Catacombs. They arc
very beautiful and ir. pressive serv-
ices which take place at the high al
tar There are only six candles ON
the altar and fifteen, arranged on a
wooden triangle, at the left of the al
tar, which represent Christ, the elev-
IN apostles and the three MarXs. At
ter each psalm one candle is eXtln-
guished till only one, the tallest Is
left Christ, deserted by all, remains
the one true light Of the world.
On Holy Thursday the mass of the
la st supper is held On this day. to
insure good fortune for the year to
come, one must visit the sepulchre in
seven different churches. At half
past nine the ceremony of blessing
the Oils" is performed at the Cathe-
dral by the archbishop of Flor
ence. The affairs are laid bare to
symbolic the stripping of Christ on
The cross and as the body of the Saw
: Jour is said to have been bathed with
blood and water, the affairs are wash
cd with water and wine.
4 = In the afternoon the archbishop Of
ficiates at the Lavanda on Washing
of tho Feet. Thirteen poor old men
who represent the apostles dncludinR
ST Matthias) enter the Duomo i'm
procession They take their places at
the high altar where their feet are
washed BY the. archbishop, assisted by
canons and chapIains An address in
Latin Is usually delivered and psalms
are sung. The old men are given
new shoes and money and they are
privileged to ask loaf of bread at
the sacristy.
The browning ceremony of the
week occurs on Saturday at the cath
edral. 1t is called the Scoppio del
Caro- (the Burning of the Carr Like
so many other ceremonies of the Ro-
roan Catholic church it originated at
the time of the Crusades when Eur
ope was flooded with relics brought
from the Holy Land.
A member of the Pazzi family Of
Florence received permission to bring
home from Jerusalem some of the
Giving stone which touched the
tomb Of the Saviour. The three lit.
tie pieces of flint were received Will
great honor by the SignOria and ac
cordng to one account We're placed
in small church for safekeeping
Another says that the stones wee
kept by the Pazzi family in their owr
house. Every year on Holy Satur.
day, fire was struck from them auC
the devout came to kindle their light
at the sacred flame. Later when thu
crowds became too great the stonA
were taken to the church.
1t was considered a great honor T.
be the first to receive the light ant
for many years it was a privilege o.
the paz2i family. At last, in the four
teenth century, they offered to build
car at their own expense to be burn
III front of the Duomo. In the six
tcenth century the custom of settinf
of fireworks was substituted fo
burning the car and at that time tn,
t.ar which is still in use was built
The town council of Florence bough
the car from the Pazzi family in t84l
md since then the ceremony ha
been a municipal affair.
On this Holy Saturday mass begin
at o'clock in the church of S. S