Thousands attend St Anne’s Feast procession

Annual affair: Devotees taking part in the procession at St Anne

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Tens of thousands of people, including foreign pilgrims, thronged the grounds of St Anne’s Church in Bukit Mertajam in conjunction with the annual St Anne’s Feast.

The highlight of the festival was a 45-minute long candlelight procession, which started after the 8pm open-آ­آ­air mass, led by Penang Catholic Dioآ­cese Bishop Rev Datuk Sebas­tian Francis yesterday.

This was followed by an energetic concert by youth group Psalm 33 from Kuala Lumpur.

The church bells rang slowly and repeatedly for about one minute after the statue of St Anne was brought to the church foyer and placed on a float decked with flowers and LED lights.

Rev Sebastian, who is also the parish priest, then accompanied other priests, church elders and officials as they led the pilgrims from behind the float.

Heading the main procession group were a cross-bearer, a group of altar boys carrying ornamental candles, flag bearers and flower girls sprinkling flower petals on the ground.

At the old St Anne’s church, now known as the Shrine of St Anne, thousands of pilgrims offered lit candles, flowers, flower garlands and prayers to St Anne.

Pilgrims also did the same at the different stations on St Anne’s Hill and collected St Anne’s water in containers from a water station nearby.

About 100,000 pilgrims from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam converged at the church in Jalan Kulim here for the 10-day feast themed “Call To Mission”, which ends today.