All set for St Anne’s feast

BUKIT MERTAJAM: The stage is all set for St Anne’s Feast with volunteers putting the final touches, including flower arrangements on the altar and around the church as the nine-day novena begins today.


Some 2,000 strong volunteers were busy cleaning up the important areas in the church and arranging flower pots at the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in the compound for the annual feast themed “Evangelisation through liturgy – tell the story of Jesus”.

A smaller scale candlelight procession will start on Thursday, the actual birthday of St Anne, while the main procession will be held on July 28, when the statue of St Anne and her daughter, the Virgin Mary, will be taken on a 3km journey, passing through Jalan Kulim, Jalan Kg Baru, Jalan Berjaya and Jalan Maju before returning to the church.

Final touches: Volunteers Felcy Lee (left), 60, and Clinda Phang, 55, placing flowers on the altar of the Church of St Anne in Bukit Mertajam, Penang.

A Kadazandusun mass will be celebrated at 3pm next Friday, as well as a Thai mass at 2pm the next day, apart from the regular masses in English, Mandarin and Tamil. The annual feast is celebrated by Catholics in honour of Jesus Christ’s grandmother St Anne, which falls on the last weekend of July.

Hotels in Seberang Jaya and Butterworth have been fully booked for 10 days as people make their annual pilgrimage here. Sunway Hotel Seberang Jaya marketing and communication manager S. Virgiana Ann said her hotel would be enjoying 100% occupancy. She said that a few groups from Singapore had made room reservations in advance and many would be staying for the duration of the feast. Bukit Mertajam Palm Inn hotel reservation executive M. Saula said there should be 100% occupancy during the event and many of its guests were from outstation.
-thestar online.