EASTER "SANCTA SEMANA" CELEBRATIONS IN LARANTUKA, ISLAND OF FLORES - EAST NUSATENGGARA PROVINCEThe holy week before Easter, "Sancta Semana", is a very important time for religious celebration for the devoutly Catholic people of Larantuka, a town on the eastern end of Flores Island, East Nusatenggara province. The celebrations centred on two religious relics, statues of Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary brought by Portuguese missionaries Caspar de Espiritu Santo and Augustinho de Magdalena in the 1500s. These statues are only presented to the public every Easter and was kept out-of-view for the rest of the year.
The religious festivites began on Wednesday before Easter, known locally as
Rabu Trewa or "Shackled Wednesday". In remembrance of the betrayal of Judas Iscariot that led to Jesus's arrest and shackling, devotees surround the chapel of Tuan Ana, where the statue of Jesus is kept and chapel of Tuan Ma where statue of Mary is kept, shouting grief in Latin to mourn the arrest of Jesus by Roman soldiers. Chapel of Tuan Ana is located in Kebis beach, Larantuka village while chapel of Tuan Ma is located at Lohayong village.
On Easter Thursday, devotees prepared the route of next day's procession by planting candle-places along the seven-kilometres road, called the
tikam turo ritual. After the candle-places are prepared, devotees went to the chapels to follow the
Munda Tuan ritual.
During Munda Tuan, a group of specially-selected order, the
Konfreria Reinha Rosaria (Brotherhood of Queen of Roses), bathed the statues of Jesus and Mary. The water used for this bathing was considered holy and was saved to cure ill-children and to help pregnant-ladies having complicated births.
On the morning of Good Friday, the raja of Larantuka of Diaz Vieira de Godinho clan, opened the door to chapel of Tuan Ma, opening the way for devotees, beginning with the Diaz Vieira de Godinho clan, the brotherhood members, and the rest of the population, to kiss the statue of Mary and pray for her benevolence (
Per Mariam ad Jesum prayer).
At the same time, the statue of Jesus was taken out from his chapel to be brought in a seven-kilometre-long procession by land and sea passing eight stops (each stop representing the eight main clans of Larantuka) to unite statue of Jesus with statue of Mary. At each stop exists a small chapel, where a short prayer and devotional singing was held to remember the suffering of Jesus on the cross, the Stations of the Cross. The eight clans are the Mulawato, Sarotari, Amakalen, Kapitan Jentera, Fernandez da Gomez, Diaz Pohon Sirih, and Diaz Vieira de Godinho clans.
The statues of Jesus and Mary are united, then brought together to Larantuka Cathedral where all devotees followed an all-night Good Friday service remembering the death of Jesus in the cross.

Statue of Mary, the Mater Dolorosa (Mother of Sorrow) statue


Larantuka Cathedral