PERFORMERS OF THE SILENT PROCESSION

VILGERTSHOFEN (GER) 2003

There is a silent procession every year on the Sunday after Assumption Day in Vilgertshofen (Upper Bavaria). Over 100 performers personify biblical sequences, which are accompanied by solemn music played by a brass band and prayers recited by the local male brotherhood, who are carrying the holiest of holies. The procession is a part of the Titulary festival which has been celebrated since the eightteenth century in Vilgertshofen by the »Brotherhood of the suffering God’s mother«. Local people and families organise and perform in the festival. They have vowed to pass on the roles from generation to generation. Processions of suffering have been a widespread method of spiritual edification, homage and religious instruction since Baroque times. Processions are a sermon with images which are a part of Christian tradition in this region.