India: Pongala Ritual

From the Times of India:

Thousands of women today performed the 'pongala' ritual of the famed Attukal Bhagavathy temple here today, one of world's largest all-woman religious gatherings which made its way into the Guinness Book of World Records due to its uniqueness.

Cutting across class, caste and even religious barriers, devotees congregated around the temple and beside the highways and by-lanes to perform the annual ceremony of cooking of rice-jaggery mix in fresh earthen pots as their offering to the presiding Goddess of the shrine, seeking her blessings for year-round peace, plenty and prosperity.

For the last few years the festival has been attracted an average 2.5 million women, which prompted the Guinness to record it as the biggest gathering of women on a single day for a religious ritual.