Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and tourists are going to visit the Csíksomolyói Whitesun, the biggest religious and Christian event in Transylvania in 2014. This year the traditional pilgrimage will be held in the area of the Transylvanian town called Csíksomlyó between the 6th and 10th June.
Csíksomolyó is a famous place of pilgrimage of Székely-Hungarian Catholics. The historical event has been held since 1990 and hundreds of thousands of religious people and tourists pilgrimage to the “Csíksomolyói búcsú” to take part in the celebration. Each year lots of Hungarian Catholics take part in this big ceremonial event and give their respect before the Blessed Virgin Mary in Transylvania. A night Mass and vigil opens this enormous ceremony on each Pentecost Friday.
According to karpateuropa.hu website, there are special trains which take the passengers and tourist to the venue. The number of the special trains has increased since 2008. At present there are 3 different types of trains – the Székely Gyors and Csíksomlyó Expressz as well as the Boldogasszony Zarándokvonat – which carry the tourists from Budapest to the final destination each year. Interestingly, the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) and the Carpathian Europe Travel Agency decorate the trains with motifs which are related to the history of Hungarians. Train tickets can be purchased online or at the Travel Agency. Moreover, there are some packages for tourists and pilgrims in which meals and lodging are included in the tickets. Thus, those pilgrims who come by train could sleep at Székely-Hungarian families – as part of the country tourism – and get full meals during the whole event.
The event will start at 7pm on 6th June with a holy mass and then an all-night-long vigil will be held in the Pilgrim Church in Csíksomlyó. The event will be continued with confessions and holy masses on Saturday morning. The climax of the event is the Ceremonial Holy Mass which will be held at “Hármashalom oltár” from 12:30 on Saturday. The “Hármashalom oltár” is a venue in the saddle between the mountains of “Kissomlyó” and “Nagysomlyó”.
After the big Holy Mass night vigils and holy masses will continuously be held in the Pilgrim Church in Csíksomlyó. The “Csíksomolyó Farewell and Pilgrim” officially finishes with the Holy Mass on Sunday morning and with the departure of the groups of pilgrims and tourists. However, on Monday and Tuesday (9th-10th June) holy masses will be held three times a day at the Pilgrim Church.
The “Csíksomlyói búcsú” program will take place from 6th June to 10th June and lots of travel agencies and websites organize special tickets for the ceremony which includes the transport, meals and lodging as well.
For those who would like to travel there by car and spend one or two days only in this wonderful place it’s highly recommended to watch the roads and traffic changes carefully sduring the whole event.
based on article of szekelyfoldiinfo.ro, karpateuropa.hu
translated by Valentina Leanyfalvi
Photo: Daily News Hungary
Source: http://www.szekelyfoldiinfo.ro/
