Off Topic · Something you guys ought to see. Ever been scared before? Not as much as I was. (page 1)

So, context. I went to Sorrento, Italy with family and friends for Passover (Jewish holiday). While there, we ask the cab driver what's good to see while there and he tells us that there's a procession tonight call the March of the White. Perhaps I should have been tipped off when he said that the procession occured at 3am!

Anyway, we were gonna take the kids but decided the hour was too unsociable. So me, my brother-in-law and a friend get up at 2.30am and walk down to Sorrento town centre to see this procession. We ask for directions and finally end up in a tiny narrow alley, behind police lines, crammed into a tiny nook in the wall as the entire procession marched past.

While watching, please bear in mind that I am a white, noticably jewish fella, 5'7 in shoes and maybe 110 lb soaking wet. Not counting the weight I lost over the next few minutes of my life. I recorded the whole thing on my iphone and it came out pretty good. In the background at the beginning you can hear my BIL desperately demanding we run while we still could. Watch on....

Elaborate on the religious aspect please. Looks creepy as he'll!

I believe it was a march to commemorate Jesus being killed. Still dont get the KKK outfits, but what do I know. It was the spears, knives and general burning of torches that kinda got to me. Oh, and the pointy masks.

I'm gonna guess it's an Easter thing and since Italy much older the Klan copied them. No doubt looks clannish but they all carrying crosses and not spewing the hate.

Wow thats creepy, i'd be freaked out if i was there. I had to research it though to make some sense of it.

The most eagerly awaited event crowning celebrations of Holy Week are the Good Friday Processions,
the White procession in the morning and the Black one in the evening.
The names of the processions derive from the colors worn by the participants, white represents hope of St. Mary searching for her son Jesus, broken by the black sorrow over the body of her Crucified son.

The origins of the celebrations go back to the Middle Ages, when at the end of 13th century Sorrento witnessed local people in sackcloth and bearing lighted torches, who
visited the tombs in various churches singing penitential psalms on the evening of Holy Thursday.
In the 16th century the Arch-Confraternity of Death moved the procession to Good Friday. The statue of Dead Christ was accompanied by a large wooden cross, and in further years the symbols of Sufferings, such as the lance, the sponge, the Nails and the Crown of Thorns.
The statue of Our Lady of Sorrows has been added in 18th century by the monks from St.Francis of Asissi. In 1806 the King of Naples expulted the friars from the monastery,
and the Arch-Confraternity connected with St.Francis where replaced by the new persons who sustained the tradition. Later on the procession evolved into two separate ones, but connected in spiritual way.

The White Procession
is organized by the Venerable Arch-confraternity of Santa Monica of the church of Assumption. It leads through the streets of Sorrento, when the first sunlight breaks the night.
The dim lights of Lamps and torches accompanied by the sound of Miserere chorals create a harrowing atmosfere.
The sculpture carried by the participants represents St.Mary going out in search of her son Jesus.
The mysteries are enriched by the symbols of the Arch-Confraternity, banners and small wooden crosses.

The Black Procession
takes place at the dusk, and this time the torch light surround the sculpture of Jesus taken out of the Cross accompanied by the mentioned earlier instruments of Sufferings and followed by the sculpture of Our Lady of Sorrows.
The procession is organized by the Servants of Mary who share it with the Clergy and Chapter of the Sorrento Cathedral.

http://www.mytravelitaly.com/campania/the-good-friday-processions-in-sorrento/