This the procession for the annual harvest celebration and ceremony to bless the new bread, which both occur on Aug. 20, St. István's Day, in Budapest. Participants march from Buda across the Chain Bridge to St. Stephen's Basilica, where the bread of master bakers is blessed by the Primate of Hungary, the Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, during a ceremonial Mass. If I recall correctly, the embalmed hand of St. Stephen is also carried in great ceremony to the Danube and back. We didn't follow the huge mass of people across the bridge, but my husband has been to the services on the other end, so it was good to see this part of it.

I couldn't believe the number of people crossing the bridge in the procession. We thought about following along, but some kind Hungarians told us if we wanted to go, we needed to do it then as the bridge would be closed, which it was right after this was taken. Good thing we listened because it would have been almost impossible to get back to our car parked on the other side of the tunnel.