Bastia, seen from the coast at sunset..The most famous Corsican Easter procession takes place in Sartène on the evening of Good Friday. A masked penitent, the identity of whom is only known to the local parish priest, acts out the Stations of the Cross. With his feet in chains and wearing a hood and a red vestment, the "Catenacciu" ("the chained one" in the Corsican language) walks through the town carrying his heavy cross amid a contemplative crowd. A ceremony full of religious and mystical fervour. In Bonifacio the Catholic brotherhoods of pilgrims, confraternities, march along the walls of the fortified city for Easter week and in Cargese there is the orthodox monastery's Easter celebrations where shotguns are fired and prayers recited on the cliff edge and in the church. Children collect the empty spent cartridges as souvenirs. Corsica itself is a mixture of steep rocky mountains, ice and snow capped at their highest peaks all year around, isolated villages nestled into the hills, fishing ports, lobster fishermen, and historic sites dating back to neolothic times.
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