Rath yatra - What makes it so interesting?

This is the only festival in the world where deities are taken out of temples to travel to devotees, and it is also the largest chariot procession in the world.

Millions of people come to watch as a "king" sweeps the road with a golden mop and three massive 18-wheeled chariots bearing the sibling deities make their way through massive crowds. Their chariots, mini architectural marvels, are constructed over 42 days from over 4,000 pieces of wood by the only family with the hereditary rights to make them.

Legend says it always rains on the day of the procession. For a whole week before, the temple doors are shut and no one is allowed inside because it is believed that the sibling deities have a fever after bathing in the sun with 108 pitchers of water. The breaking of their fever calls for a change of scene, which is why they go to their aunt's home for a few days.?