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During Holy Week, Filipino devotional culture takes on an especially penitential tone, in ways that particularly reflect its Spanish colonial heritage, and even its pre-Christian heritage, but have continued to evolve over the years. Filipinos who tend not to be fully observant liturgically the rest of the year see it as very important to participate in liturgies and devotions this week.

With nine to 11 million members, El Shaddai is undoubtedly the largest lay Catholic organization in the world. In its worship, theology, and aesthetic, El Shaddai often seems more like the Filipino version of an American Evangelical Protestant mega church, but the movement is linked to and approved by the Catholic Church.

Though commonly referred to simply as bailes, the dance groups are really lay religious confraternities — sociedades religiosas — organized to express their devotion through dance. Typically about half of the members, called promesantes, are actually dancers.

While the geographic heart of La Tirana is the "temple" or sanctuary of the Virgen del Carmen and the plaza where they dance, bailes spend most of their time outside the plaza in living compounds.

The dance celebrations at La Tirana are organized around the feast day of the Virgen del Carmen, July 16. But the full schedule, from July 10-19, has a number of other high points that make it so meaningful to those who make the pilgrimage there.

Couples in Ireland tend to marry late, and most agree that equality between women and men is a fundamental right.

The tradition of religious dance at La Tirana has both indigenous and Spanish roots. After the War of the Pacific, in the late 19th century, the feast at La Tirana became a feast for the Virgen del Carmen, the patroness of Chile.

Normally a town of fewer than 1,000 people, La Tirana fills with more than 200,000 people during the feast, which centers on the feast day of the Virgen del Carmen (July 16), but lasts from July 10-19.

The pilgrimage to Csíksomlyó for Pentecost is one of the largest annual gatherings of any kind in Romania, attracting 50,000 to 100,000 attendees each year.

Devotion to the Virgin Mary is a strong and everyday part of life in the Transylvanian Hungarian and Catholic community. Attendance at Mass is visibly larger on annual holidays dedicated to Mary, and pilgrimages and prayer circles honor her.