A statue washed ashore in 1510 still walks the town on Good Friday
Related guide: Semana Santa in Larantuka 2027
Larantuka is a harbour town in East Flores that holds Catholic rites in the Portuguese tradition every year in the week before Easter, Semana Santa. By the afternoon of Good Friday 2024, 7,693 pilgrims had arrived. Most were Catholic, but Protestants, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims came too.
According to tradition, in 1510 a boy named Resiona saw an apparition of Mary on the beach and soon found a wooden statue of her washed ashore, most likely from a sunken Portuguese ship. Portuguese Dominican missionaries arrived about 50 years later and, together with local people, began carrying the statue, Tuan Ma, in Holy Week processions.
On Maundy Thursday the Raja of Larantuka opens the doors of the Tuan Ma chapel, and the faithful queue to kiss the statue. The queue runs into the early hours of Good Friday.
On Good Friday morning the infant statue Tuan Meninu is carried from a chapel on the Rowido shore onto a berok, a wooden boat without an engine. Each boat has a crew of five, three paddling and two steering, and many take part to fulfil a vow (permesa). The flotilla brings the statue ashore at Kuce beach.
The night procession leaves from the cathedral. Holding candles, the faithful carry Tuan Ana and Tuan Ma around town, stopping at stations called armida. In 2017 the route ran about 6 km and continued until early Saturday morning.
The full guide to this festival
Semana Santa in Larantuka 2027: Good Friday processions on 26 March in eastern Flores
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