The Solo Scale:

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Years ago, my mother asked me if I wanted to do a faith tour with her.

I was raised Catholic — Italian on one side and Ukrainian Orthodox on the other. As I grew older, I started to slip towards non-practicing Catholic, and then further until today. Now, I’d consider myself mainly agnostic. I still know the prayers, so I could keep up during the rosary recitations. My primary reason for joining this tour was because it stopped in Lourdes — a longtime destination wish for me. The secondary reason involved curiosity. There’s so much history attached to these religious sites, which fascinates me beyond faith.

I will say, that there were absolutely moments when even I, as an agnostic believer, felt a level of spirituality that was higher than anything before — notably in Fatima (not at the shrine) and by the grotto in Lourdes. Seeing the statue on the roundabout into town, and then being in the countryside doing a rosary walk heightened my spirituality in a way that had me understanding how a place like this could bolster the faithful.

What made this visit once in a lifetime was the fact that we visited the Shrine of Fatima on the feast day.

I’ve been to Coachella before and the closest comparison that I can make to this Feast Day is the experience at a massive music festival. Obviously there are no main stage musical acts — only the mass and the devoted approaching. As they approached, some crawled on their knees as they made their final approach in their pilgrimage. The whole thing is very much a festival. There are massive stages set up, huge camping grounds nearby, and a swell of faithful turns Fatima into a booming population overnight. Even on our way into town, we were passing people walking on the side of the road, completing their pilgrimage.

Despite this being a religious festival, some elements of other destinations will appear. In an odd way, the experience may remind you of theme parks. Watching people in a line, some of them pushing and shoving to get to the front, will make you think you’re at Disneyland. It’s not to devalue the experience, so much as to say that just because it’s a religious festival doesn’t stop the behaviour of large crowds of people. Nearby, people were able to offer candles as offerings to large industrial sized furnaces. It was a line to get in, and once you arrived at the front, it was a free-for-all that pushed you close to the flames.

It’s not wholly surprising. Fatima isn’t that large, and the flock coming in can be overwhelming.

At night, you’ll really feel the press of the crowd. In the crowd, with your candle, you’ll be surrounded on all sides during the processions. During the recitation, the language switches out, though still mostly European based languages (and English). The candles are free, and if you’re a bit claustrophobic, you can stand on the edge. Or, like me, you can also go to a higher level of the hotel and watch from above.

That said, it’s a truly unique experience to stand in a crowd of that size with a singular focus. It’s meditative that way, as people around you in the hundreds sing the gloria, lift their candles, and recite prayers. Even for someone like me whose faith is weaker than most, I wound up very moved.

The day after is also interesting. Despite doing research on places to eat in town, we discovered that they were closed. It’s likely that they were taking a well-deserved rest after the crush of people visiting for the festival. The town itself felt a bit like it was on festival hangover — the energy was sedate, as if the sudden exodus of the massive crowds pulled the energy of the locals out with it.

This is truly a once in a lifetime experience, even if you aren’t religious. If you’re in the area and can get a hotel, it’s worth doing just the once. If nothing else, experiencing the swell of activity and the truly unique sensation that comes of being in the midst of a crowd during a Feast Day is truly a once in a lifetime thing.

To learn a little more, you can visit the Shrine of Fatima’s website here.

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