Rajmond Ščepanović of Australia will lead the traditional Priko poja procession. Two years ago the cross was borne by his father, Rajko. In the Bol tradition the names of cross-bearers are known in advance for the next forty years.
At the traditional Priko poja (Across the Field) procession staged at the parish of Our Lady of Carmel in Bol on the island of Brač on Good Friday, this year’s cross-bearer will be 36-year-old Rajmond Ščepanović of Australia. Two years ago the cross-bearer at this penitential procession was his father, Rajko. In the Bol tradition the names of cross-bearers are known in advance for the next forty years.
The Priko poja procession in Bol is 15 kilometres long and starts at 7 o’clock in the morning from the church near the Dominican monastery of St Mary of Mercy (Sveta Marija Milosna) and heads out towards the parish church of Our Lady of Carmel where the cross-bearer takes the large cross, and a woman or girl a smaller cross known as the Golubica (Dove). The procession passes through all of Bol, along the waterfront to Zlatni rat (“Golden Cape”) and the small church of St Joseph (Sveti Josip) in Podbarje. It then goes from the large church and returns to the parish church where it closes with a prayer and the blessing of the participants. According to the Catholic parish priest in Bol, Damir Šokić, the penitential procession – which lasts almost four hours – is led by the faithful themselves following established customs, while the priests await the participants at the churches where they stop to pray.
(IKA)