Photos From Peñafrancia

These are from the Peñafrancia festival in Naga City that we went to about a month ago. Peñafrancia is the Bicol region's largest and most famous festival.

Wikipedia [cringe] says:
The city celebrates the Feast of Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the Patroness of the Bicol Region, starting second Friday of September each year. The start of the feast, which is the largest Marian devotion in the country, is signalled by a procession (called Traslacion) which transfers the centuries-old image of the Blessed Virgin Mary from its shrine at the Peñafrancia Basilica Minore to the 400-year old Naga Metropolitan Cathedral. Coinciding with nine days of novena prayer at the cathedral, the city celebrates with parades, pageants, street parties, singing contests, exhibits, concerts, and other activities. Finally, on the third Saturday of September, the image is returned shoulder-borne by so-called voyadores to the Basilica Minore de Nuestra Señora de Peñafrancia via the historic Naga River.

Myself and several other Volunteers enjoyed some fiesta food and socializing while we watched the excitement build and the statue go by on a boat at a host relative's house on the Naga river. We waited hours for the procession to go by - I can't imagine what it would be like to have to wait out on the water.

A cathedral in Naga:
I can't claim credit for the following land photo that A took, but it lets you see the statue a bit closer as well as the throngs of people doing everything they can to get close to it.