Indonesia: Thousands Gather For Good Friday Procession

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By Jacob Herin

Thousands of devotees have gathered in Larantuka in East Nusa Tenggara province for a traditional procession to mark Good Friday.

They include hundreds of devotees from Kupang, the provincial capital, who took advantage of free round-trip ferry tickets offered by the governor to make the 10-hour ferry trip to Flores Island.

The procession involves carrying the statues of Tuan Ma (Mary) and Tuan Ana (Jesus) through Larantuka to the Queen of the Rosary Cathedral.

The tradition started in the 16th century and continues to attract Christian and non-Christian pilgrims.

The Portuguese ambassador to Indonesia Carlos Manuel Leitao Frota and his wife, the tourism minister Marie Elka Pangestu, are among the guests of honor for this year’s procession.

“I have been taking part in the procession for five years. I once asked the Virgin Mary for luck, and I got a job soon after,” said Bernadete Besu, a Protestant.

UCA News

The Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News, UCAN) is the leading independent Catholic news source in Asia. A network of journalists and editors that spans East, South and Southeast Asia, UCA News has for four decades aimed to provide the most accurate and up-to-date news, feature, commentary and analysis, and multimedia content on social, political and religious developments that relate or are of interest to the Catholic Church in Asia.

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