Grand Marian Procession

Every year on the first Sunday of December, the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila, the Philippines comes alive with a Grand Marian Procession. This Catholic nation, the most populous in Asia, truly loves its processions. In the Dominican parish where I worked for a year, there were processions every month with saints borne in flower-decked carriages!

However, one of the grandest is the Grand Marian Procession held in honour of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, and when better than the month of May to bring this to your attention?

This tradition was only begun in 1980, when the most beautiful statues of Mary from all over the country were taken in procession through the streets of Intramuros. The vibrancy of this procession and the many others I witnessed in Manila shows that processions are still very much alive in some parts of the Catholic world.

The best photos of the Grand Marian Procession are at the site called 'My Sarisari Store'. As they're copyrighted, I can't post them here directly, but do click on this link to view them.

The other great procession, believed to be the largest in the Philippines is the La Naval Procession in October, held by the Dominicans in honour of the Protectress of the the Philippine Islands, shown in the photo above. But perhaps that should be left for a future post...