Good Friday is the day Christians around the world mark the crucifixion of Jesus. For over a century, the people of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn have shown their devotion with a distinctive procession that includes a funeral band, dozens of black-clad women reciting the rosary in Italian, and statues of Jesus and Mary, borne on the shoulders of pallbearers. It’s a centuries-old custom inherited from immigrants who came to this part of Brooklyn from the island of Sicily, and from the small city of Mola di Bari, Italy.

Every year, families gather on stoops and sidewalks to catch a glimpse of the hours-long procession. John Heyer, a Carroll Gardens funeral director and historian at the Church of Sacred Hearts and Saint Stephen, said the movement of the statues of Jesus and Mary through a residential neighborhood of Brooklyn represents Christ’s journey from his death on Calvary to his tomb, the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

“Italians tend to celebrate their faith very publicly. And so bringing this procession out into the streets allows them to express their faith,” Heyer said. “The procession is not meant just for Italians. It’s not meant just for Catholics, for that matter…. All are welcome to come and walk with us in the procession. All are welcome to come with us and just be spectators and watch.”