Preliminary preparations for the golden car festival of Our Lady of Snows Basilica to be celebrated on August 5 next year commenced here on Saturday.
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The ‘Golden Car Festival’ of Our Lady of Snows Basilica will be held on August 5 next year as part of the centenary celebrations of Thoothukudi Roman Catholic Diocese. Announcing this during the Holy Mass celebrated at the shrine on August 5 last, the final day of the annual 11-day-long festival, Bishop of Thoothukudi RC Diocese Most Rev. Stephen Antony, in the midst of chiming of church bells, said the 16th ‘Golden Car Festival’ of Our Lady of Snows Basilica would be held on August 5 next year in view of the 100th year celebrations of the Thoothukudi RC Diocese.
To prepare the golden car for this celebration, which is expected to consume around 10 months, erection of the mega shed for decorating the car started on Saturday in which tall palmyra tree trunks were installed for fabricating the shed.
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“The work started today and will culminate with the decoration of the golden car. We’ve planned to complete this work by a team of expert artisans by August next year so that the golden car will be ready for the ultimate celebration on August 5, 2023,” sources in the Basilica said.
The ‘Golden Car Festival’ of Our Lady of Snows, which has been conducted on 15 occasions so far, was held last in 2013 to mark the 300th year of the construction of the new church for Our Lady of Snows. Over a lakh devotees participated in the golden car festival for which special trains were operated to Thoothukudi from Chennai and other places.
The first ‘Golden Car Festival’ was conducted in 1806 to mark the 250th year of the arrival of the statue of Our Lady of Snows to Thoothukudi. After this, the grand event has been organised in 1872, 1879, 1895, 1905, 1908, 1926, 1947, 1955, 1964, 1977, 1982, 2000, 2007 and 2013.