Marian Days
| Marian Days Ngay Thanh Mau |
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|---|---|
Entrance to the 2007 Marian Days.
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| Genre | Religious, cultural |
| Begins | 1st Thursday of August |
| Ends | Following Sunday |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Location(s) | Carthage, Missouri, United States |
| Years active | 39 |
| Inaugurated | 1978 |
| Most recent | August 4-7, 2016[update] |
| Next event | August 3-6, 2017 |
| Participants | 70,000–90,000 |
| Patron(s) | Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix |
| Website | |
| dongcong.us | |
The Marian Days (Vietnamese: Đại Hội Thánh Mẫu, officially các Ngày Thánh Mẫu) is the main festival and pilgrimage for Vietnamese American Roman Catholics. The annual event in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary has taken place the first weekend in August since 1978 on the 28-acre (110,000 m2) campus of the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix in Carthage, Missouri. Tens of thousands of attendees come from throughout the United States, while non-Vietnamese locals and some visitors from Canada and Vietnam also attend.
The Congregation organized the inaugural Marian Days at its U.S. headquarters in 1978, in celebration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Around 1,500 Vietnamese Catholics from the Carthage area participated.
Ordinarily, Marian Days takes place without major incidents. The Carthage Police Department and event organizers enforce rules against indecency and drug use. Gang members are banned from the event, after two gangs killed a man during a fight in 2003. In 2008, 17 pilgrims died in a bus crash en route from Houston to Carthage.
Around 60,000 attended the 34th annual Marian Days August 4–7, 2011. Presiders included Bishop Johnston and Bishop Emeritus Leibrecht of Springfield–Cape Girardeau, the local diocese; Bishop Tri Bửu Thiên of Cần Thơ; and Auxiliary Bishop Nguyễn Tấn Tước of Phú Cường.
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