Blessing of the animals
With an oink oink here and a cluck cluck there, animals arrived at the Vatican and elsewhere on Friday to get a blessing. Hundreds of pet owners bring their animals to be blessed every year on the day of Saint Anthony, patron saint of animals. Elsewhere in the world, according to tradition that dates back 500 years, people ride their horses through the narrow cobblestone streets of this small village in Spain to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires.