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In a grand display of faith and tradition, over a million devotees from across the country gathered to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the canonical coronation of Bicol’s patroness, Our Lady of Peñafrancia, in this city on Friday.
Clad in shirts and headbands bearing the slogan ‘Viva La Virgen’ (Long Live the Virgin), devotees took part in the traslacion, a revered procession that transports the images of the Virgin, locally called “Ina,” and the Divino Rostro (Holy Face) from the old Peñafrancia Shrine to the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral at the city center, signaling the start of the weeklong religious festival.
The male devotees, called “voyadores,” who are the only ones allowed within close proximity of Ina’s image during the traslacion, traditionally join barefooted, enduring the hours-long and physically challenging journey through the city’s main thoroughfares. Other pilgrims joined the procession from the sides of the streets or watched from a distance.
“We commemorate the centennial anniversary of Ina’s canonical coronation as Queen and Patroness of Bicolandia, which took place on Sept.
