#penitents

Alfred Kubin (1877–1959), ???

from the book ‘Alfred Kubin, der Künstler und sein Werk’ by Hermann Esswein, 1911

The Green Valley, Purgatorio Cantos Vii-viii

Artist: Henry Arthur Payne (British, 1868-1940)

Date: 1800's

Medium: Watercolour and body color

Collection: Private Collection

The Green Valley, Purgatorio Cantos VII-VIII

Canto VII

Virgil identifies himself to Sordello, explaining that he has been barred from Heaven for his lack of Christian faith. Sordello humbly embraces Virgil around the knees, praising him as the pioneer of Latin literature. Sordello wants to know more about Virgil’s eternal fate, so Virgil explains that Limbo, though “melancholy,” is not as grievous and painful as the rest of Hell. Then Virgil asks Sordello how to reach Purgatory proper. Sordello explains that there’s no fixed path and adds that no one is permitted to climb overnight—it’s a law of Mount Purgatory.

Canto VIII

Penitentes, Zamora, 2011.

¡Semana Santa!

You're referring to this post, and the point was not at all that you were racist. Sorry that that wasn't clear.

In that painting, more so than these images, the immediate impression most people in the USA will have, and many people outside of Spain, is that there's some relationship to the Ku Klux Klan.

And there is a relationship. It's just that the anti-Catholic, second iteration of the KKK brand likely stole the capirotes and other costuming from the nazarenos, or penitents, and it's become so closely associated, basically every story about them for an English-speaking audience includes that explanatory graf.

The processions vary greatly depending on the region but common elements are the hooded penitents, some carrying crosses or candles. The hats, which remind some of Klu Klux Klan costumes, are said to date back to the Spanish Inquisition when prisoners were made to wear them in public as a form of humiliation. The faces are covered so as to allow the penitent sinners to hide their identities.