The Velankanni Church festival, which began on August 29, saw thousands of pilgrims visiting the Annai Velankanni Shrine (Our Lady of Good Health) in Besant Nagar. The annual 11-day festival was held at the Our Lady of Good Health Churches in Chennai’s Besant Nagar and the coastal town of Velankanni in Tamil Nadu’s Nagapattinam district, from August 29 to September 8.
On regular days, the Our Lady of Good Health shrines receive a footfall of 1,000 devotees and during the 11-day festival, the number soars to at least one lakh devotees a day.
Duration of Velankanni Church festival
It is 11-days festival that began on August 29 and will conclude on September 8 (Sunday). On Sunday, the final day, a feast will be dedicated to Mother Mary to mark the conclusion of the festival.
Venue
The Velankanni festival will be held at the 47-year-old Annai Velankanni Shrine in Besant Nagar, Chennai and the 500-year-old Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health at Velankanni in Nagapattinam.
How to reach the venue?
Devotees within Chennai can catch any bus bound for Besant Nagar and reach the shrine. For this purpose, the Tamil Nadu State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) has deployed over 150 A/C, non-A/C and sleeper buses across the state to transport devotees to Velankkani for the festival. Buses will also be arranged from Chennai, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Bangalore and other major cities in the south.
Timings
Mass for the festival will be held in Tamil (from 05:30 am to 06:30 am, 11 am to 12 pm and 6 pm to 7 pm) and English (from 07:45 am to 08:45 am) at the shrine in Besant Nagar.
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