Mary on a boat

I'm speaking about the Virgin Mary.

Not my friend Mary :P

This is a post about italian traditions (I know some of my readers like this kind of posts). We have a lot of religious feasts in different moments of the years.

An important feast is the Assumption (August 15th): it a religious celebration, but also a sort of "middle summer" feast (no job, trips to the beach, lunch outdoor and similar things).

 

This year we were on holiday that day and, together with a lot of other people on the beach, we could look at a particular tradition: the procession of the statue of Virgin Mary on a boat.

I'm a "far from the sea girl" for my origins, so it has been an unconventional and exciting sight for me, and I couldn't resist in documenting it with my camera.

 

 

The bigger boat (decorated by palm's branch) carry the statue; a lot of other smaller boats accompany Virgin Mary during the way.

The boats go slowly and people stop on the beach to look and render omage to the Virgin with appluases and making the sign of the cross.

The magic of sunset makes the procession a special moment :)