Procissão

Procissão, in the religious sense, is a public religious procession, most often within Catholic cultures. The term comes from Latin processio, meaning a going forward. A procissão typically involves a group of people moving in an orderly sequence along a designated route, accompanied by prayers, hymns, and sometimes organ music or bells. Central elements may include a crucifix, banners, candles, incense, and a sacred image or relic carried on a platform or carried in procession by clergy and lay confraternities. The route may pass through streets, between chapels, or within a church building, and processions often conclude at an altar, shrine, or church.

Participants can include priests, deacons, acolytes, lay penitents, and members of religious fraternities; some processions involve pilgrim-like acts, such as walking barefoot or carrying crosses. Prayers, rosaries, litany, or hymns accompany the movement, sometimes with stops for readings or benedictions. Processions may be liturgical, accompanying a Mass or feast day, but many are devotional public expressions during holy seasons, especially Holy Week, Marian feasts, or local patron saint celebrations. In various countries—notably Spain, Portugal, and Latin America—procissões are an important part of cultural and religious life, reflecting local traditions and artistry in costumes and floats. Safety considerations, traffic management, and municipal regulations shape their organization in modern cities.