Female participation

Female participation had not been possible in the past for a number of reasons, including the lack of adequate spaces for changing rooms for males and females. This main difficulty has now been solved and the organising committee has decided that the time is ripe for adult female participation in this religious manifestation. The adult female element, wearing sober and appropriate costumes without any ostentation whatsoever, will consist only of women mentioned in the Bible with a connection with the story of the Redemption or who are mentioned in the four gospels as having been present during the days of the Crucifixion. All the female costumes will be owned by the parish.

The introduction of females will be spaced over a short period of years. This year will witness the introduction of a group of five women representing the Women of Jerusalem who were told by Jesus not weep for Him but to weep for themselves and for their children (according to St Luke). This group will precede the statuary group comprising Jesus, Simon of Cyrene, Veronica and a woman holding a child representing the Women of Jerusalem.

In the near future, the female element will include the following: preceding the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows will be a group of five women, indicated in the four gospels, who were with Our Lady at the time of Christ’s burial – Mary Magdalene, Mary wife of Cleophas, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and a woman named Salomé; the prophetess Anna who was present at Christ’s circumcision (with the aged Simeon) who praised and spoke about the infant Jesus (according to St Luke); two Jewish servants of the high priest who, according to St Matthew, recognised St Peter but who