feast day

Religious leaders expected feast days to align with certain seasons and lunar phases.

The original Saint Valentine, a third-century Roman martyr, was honored in the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar until 1969, Ochoa said, when the church gave the Feb. 14 feast day instead to Sts.

Every 11th of November, on the feast day of its patron saint, San Martín erupts in a wild spectacle that has occurred almost uninterrupted since 1735.

The 6 January Christian feast day of Epiphany, when observers celebrate the visit to Jesus by the Magi - commonly known as the Three Kings, or Wise Men - is widely celebrated in Spain.

Pilgrims in Cuba made their way to the shrine of St. Lazarus, the Roman Catholic saint considered the protector of the sick, while in Guatemala people celebrated the feast day of Saint Thomas.