A walker weighing 400 kilos. Faith “relieves the weight” of the Holy Christ in this Sunday’s procession – Current Affairs

“By carrying the scaffold we are carrying our life, looking back with present and future hope and even gratitude”, Emanuel Cordeiro, 63 years old, born and resident in Ponta Delgada, on the island, told the Lusa news agency. of São Miguel.

Emanuel Cordeiro belongs to the Irmandade do Santo Cristo, responsible for organizing the festivities, which are taking place in the city of Ponta Delgada.

He was 23 years old when he carried the scaffold with the image of the Holy Christ for the first time, a ritual that he performed again this year.

To Lusa Emanuel Cordeiro says that “it’s a feeling” that “only those who experience it feel it”.

This procession has been taking place in the Azores since 1700 and constitutes the highlight of the Santo Cristo festivities, which are taking place until Thursday (May 9), on the island of São Miguel.

In this procession, which runs through the streets of the city of Ponta Delgada this afternoon for several hours, the image is carried on the shoulders by members of the Brotherhood of Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres.

Emanuel Cordeiro has belonged to the Brotherhood since he was young, an “inheritance” in the family, as his father was already part of the association of believers, based at Convento da Esperança, in Ponta Delgada, as was his grandfather.

He admits that the weight of the image on the scaffold “is very significant” and that it becomes “more difficult” over the several hours of the procession’s route, but guarantees that “it even appears to be light”.

“We carry it with affection and transport it with strength”, he highlighted, guaranteeing that the image of Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres “has power before an Azorean in any part of the world”.

And, he adds, “for some people it may be just another image, but for us it is different”.

On this long journey, it is necessary to “get the right steps” so that the image of the Holy Christ is transported with “the utmost care and affection”.

“All it takes is rain or wind and the image becomes very heavy”, says Emanuel Cordeiro, expressing “great pride” in helping to transport the scaffold with the image of the Holy Christ, a bust that is “hundreds of years old” and “a mark of the Azorean identity “.

Pedro Melo, 53 years old, is also responsible for carrying the scaffold with the image of the Holy Christ in today’s afternoon procession.

He is the youngest in this “noble mission”, but shares with the rest of the Brotherhood a feeling of “great responsibility”.

“I have been in the Brotherhood for three years. I took my walker for the first time last year, it’s a very big responsibility”, he says in the Lusa report.

Pedro Melo also reports the weight of the scaffold and the difficulties during the procession route, but everything is done with “a lot of faith”.

On the day of the procession, there are seven shifts of members of the Brotherhood that rotate among themselves, depending on the route of the procession.

“Each shift has eight elements and we have to be minimally grouped at shoulder height so that the weight is distributed”, explains Pedro Melo.

Bringing together thousands of devotees, the procession begins today at 3:30 pm local time (one more hour in Lisbon), and the image of Senhor Santo Cristo dos Milagres passes through the city’s old convents and some parish churches.

On this route, a crowd of men, women and many young people, dressed in dark, follow in silence the walk with the image of the Holy Christ to the sound of the “Hymn of the Lord”, played by several music bands.

For the passage of the religious procession, the streets of the largest Azorean city are covered with carpets of flowers made by the city’s residents, traders and entities.