Today I attended Ratha Yatra (Festival of Chariots) on Daytona Beach, the first time this ancient ceremony has been held here. The idea is that it simulates a trip made by Jagannath, Lord of the Universe (also called Krishna), while on vacation to the countryside to his aunt's home. Ratha Yatra has been celebrated for thousands of years in the Indian holy city Jagannathapuri and is probably the oldest and largest religious ceremony around.

We saw hundreds of devotees singing, chanting, drumming, and pulling a brightly-colored chariot covered in flowers, food and red and yellow cloth, bearing the effigy of the Lord for all to see. They were to pull the chariot 2 1/2 miles down the beach to Sun Splash Park, where a feast awaited.

And they would have too, except for one slight, 1,000-foot problem: the Daytona Beach Pier.

Pics and more details are in my Flickr set here. While I'm sure the organizers were frustrated, no one yelled, festivities continued anyway and the celebration went on. Here's the beginning of the festival which explains it much better than I did, shot by news-journalonline.com's Ron Hurtibise: