Good Friday Procession in Lohr

Good Friday, 10.30 am, St. Michael's RC Parish Church, 
Lohr am Main: one of the oldest Good Friday processions in Germany sets off.

For the following 90 minutes, you hear nothing in the old town centre but the muffled thud of the bass drums, interrupted briefly on occasion by solemn music for the Passion. Otherwise, silence reigns as the Good Friday procession slowly makes its way past several thousand believers and spectators.

On their shoulders, the members of ancient guilds and of clubs and associations carry a total of 13 heavy wooden palls bearing life-size figures depicting the "Passion of Our Lord and Saviour", as stated on a panel carried by a child walking before the first pall.

This renowned procession was first recorded in a document dating back to 1658. Believers accompanied the procession with prayers and song until into the 1960s, but since then it has been watched in silence.