BACKBLIP - Vailankanni

(Posted on 22.09.09)

One of the few surviving images dated before my hard drive failure probably because it was taken on my bronica and I had the negs scanned at the time (I found the disc by chance today)

This is from Vailankanni in Tamil Nadu, one of my favourite villages in India. It's a pilgrimage site for Catholics and every year during this week in September, more than 100,000 pilgrims flock here from all over India and beyond.

The Virgin Mary is said to have been born on September 8th and so the week is centred around that date. Although masses are held morning, noon and night throughout the week (and prayers pour forth from loud speakers scattered throughout the town at all times), on the 8th, special masses are held and many of the pilgrims have birthday parties in her honour. The last time I was there I was invited to one such party in the morning, a strange but sweet affair consisting of 4 of us in one of the church hostel's rooms, a small statue of the Virgin Mary, a sponge cake and rather heavy desert wine from Goa. It's the pure devotion that gets me, I find it intriguing and rather infectious for someone who is no longer a practising Catholic.

One of the more intense 'sights' is that of pilgrims crawling or rolling along the stations of the cross towards a a chapel where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared more than once in the 16th century. Sometimes these pilgrims have walked or crawled for miles before they reach Vailankanni. This is said to bring about miracle cures for all manner of ailments, like Lourdes (Vailankanni is sometimes referred to as the Lourdes of the East)

I could write for hours about Vailankanni and what goes on there but I'll post some more pictures instead which should give a better idea of what happens during the Festival of Our Lady of Good Health.