St. Anne’s Church Bukit Mertajam.
St. Anne’s Feast Day falls on 26 July. It has been a tradition for Mum to make a pilgrimage to the St. Anne’s Church in Bukit Mertajam a few days prior to the feast day to avoid the traffic jam and the crowd of pilgrims. Since moving to Kuala Lumpur, I have tried to keep to that tradition by going back to Penang towards the end of July and then onward to Bukit Mertajam with Wuan.
I love to be there, to soak in the ambience of the hallowed ground, to let my eyes follow the stairs of granite up to the distinct structure of the church halfway up the hill. It is a wonder that despite the bustling all around the church compound, I always felt a sense of serenity whenever I was there. If there is anything that I look forward to in the month of July, it must be St. Anne’s Feast Day celebrations in Bukit Mertajam.
Unfortunately, we are not able to go on the pilgrimage this year. Wuan has been inundated with work and had to go back to office on weekends, too. She has not had a good night’s sleep for weeks now. We may make a trip to the church when we are in Penang next. I foresee that it will be a totally new experience to be there without all the activities and pilgrims.
