April 10, 2020 – A Za Krizen 2020 video tribute and their names for the 6 cross bearers carrying the cross for their community on Hvar overnight.
Jelsa is once more quiet after a night of prayer, emotion and reflection, with the annual UNESCO Za Krizen (Behind the Cross) taking place as it has done each year for more than 500 years, albeit in a drastically different format this year, due to the coronavirus reality.
As I have been self-isolating in our home in Jelsa and unable to move elsewhere, I found myself being one of the only journalists who was able to cover this year’s procession live, which I did from distance through the night. You can see the timeline of how Za Krizen 2020 unfolded in this video and photo report published this morning.
I plan to write a much bigger piece on various details of what was an unforgettable night, as I know how much Za Krizen means to so many people, and how heartbreaking it must have been not to be able to participate, as each procession was reduced to just 15 people, as opposed to the hundreds or thousands that follow the various six processions in an ordinary year.
Having been up all night reporting, I went to bed about 10 am, but my wife, Miranda Milicic Bradbury, was busy sorting all the footage I had taken. She thought it would be nice to have a video for each cross bearer, and so she set about doing just that.
What will not be clear to those not familiar with Za Krizen is how Miranda managed to combine the music sung by each village in the Jelsa church (this was available live through a webcam for the first time – 10/10, Jean and Tomi!) and added to the video footage where possible and appropriate. You can see the six videos below, in order that they came to Jelsa, and with the name of each cross bearer in the title of the video.
Vrboska
Vrbanj
Svirce
Vrisnik
Pitve
Jelsa
To learn more about Za Krizen, follow the dedicated TCN section.
