The rites of the Passion in Valenzano begin on the Friday before Holy Week. The people of Valenzano call this day "la di du delore de Marì" which is "the day of Mary's suffering" in the local dialect. During the evening, the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows is carried by the procession through the streets of the town, accompanied by the devout and the sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows. The procession symbolises Mary's search for her son, who has been condemned to death, almost in an attempt to save him. Until the 1950s the women following in the procession would sing refrains about the Passion of Christ. Two of these dirges have been collected from oral tradition by Lino di Turi, with musical transcription by Francesco Angiuli, and published in "La Festa del Dolore: La processione del Venerdì Santo a Valenzano" (The Feast of Sorrows: The Valenzano Good Friday procession) by Lino Angiuli printed by edizioni di pagina s.r.l. Bari, 2003, page 146-49 (pdf attached).
