Custodians of traditional Holy Week celebrations back in prominence

Tradition: Members of the Irmaos de Igreja fraternity in their customary scarlet red, black and white outfits ferrying the statues of Our Lord and Mother Mary at a previous year’s Palm Sunday procession within the compound of St. Peter’s Church.

MALACCA: Traditional Holy Week celebrations are almost obsolete in Europe.

However, in Malacca, the Irmaos de Igreja (in Cristao, an aged Portuguese dialect still spoken by elders at the Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir) or ‘Brothers of the Church’, the sole custodians of related ceremonies, rituals and processions will be back in prominence when Holy Week gets underway at the 305-year old Church of St. Peter in Pengkalan Rama from March 29 to April 4.