Peñafrancia Festival

Every first to third week of September, the Peñafrancia Festival takes place in Naga City, the pilgrimage center in southeast Luzon's Bicol region, where millions flock to venerate the grand patroness Our Lady of Peñafrancia for the past three centuries

The highlights of the festival are the Translacion and fluvial procession. In the Translacion, which occurs on the second Friday of the month, the image is transferred from the Basilica to the Metropolitan Cathedral by barefooted male devotees called voyadores. After the nine-day novena (on the third Saturday), the image is returned to the Basilica on a barge pulled by baroto (rowboats) along the Naga River, whilst crowds watch along the city bridges and riverbanks lighting candles and crying, "Viva la Virgen!"

The feast day is preceded by a novena, nine days of prayer, in honor of the Virgin. On the first day, the image of the Virgin, a copy of the Madonna in Peñafrancia, Spain, is brought from its shrine to the Naga Cathedral where the novena is held. On the last day, the image is returned to her shrine following the Naga River route. The colorful evening procession is lit by thousands of candles from devotees in boats escorting the image. When the barge reaches its destination, the devotees shout "Viva la Virgen" (Long live the Virgin!) and the image is brought back in a procession to the cathedral.

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