Thousands of pilgrims to attend St Anne’s Feast this year

The annual St Anne’s Feast day celebration is ready to welcome back all pilgrims for feast celebrations this year starting July 22.

The feast day celebration in the Minor Basilica of St Ann, Bukit Mertajam, has become a tourist attraction as one of the country’s largest religious celebrations.

More than 100,000 people are expected to attend the feast day celebration.

The theme for this year’s feast is ‘Salt of the Earth & Light of the World’.

Covid-19 precaution

This year’s festival is expected to be bigger than the last two years when the church scaled it down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, said church deacon, Rev Lazarus Anthony Jonathan.

“Mass will be held indoors and outdoors, and there will still be some Covid-19 standard operating procedures to adhere to.

“It will be compulsory to have face masks on indoors, and we encourage everyone to keep them on while outdoors as it will be crowded,” he said.

The St Anne’s Feast procession

The feast will culminate with a multilingual mass at 7 pm, followed by the procession at 8.30 pm on July 30.

The statue of St Anne and her daughter, Mother Mary, will be carried in a wooden palanquin by volunteers in a six-kilometre procession joined by thousands of pilgrims n July 30.

The procession has been a tradition, and a significant event in Bukit Mertajam as it passes by several major streets.

“We hope it will spread a message of hope to the people after the pandemic,” he said.

The pilgrims came from all over the country, and many came from other countries like Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia Myanmar.

St Anne, the grandmother of Jesus, is one of the most venerated saints. She has been known as an intercessor of healing, especially with marriage and family.