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Stille Omgang
 
 
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A stille omgang (silent "procession" or circambulation) is an informal ritual as substitute for the Roman Catholic processions that were prohibited after the Reformation
Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe. It is thought to have begun in 1517 with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and may be considered to have ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648....
 in the Netherlands in the 16th century. The biggest and best known is the "Stille Omgang" of Amsterdam
Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands and List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands of North Holland in the west of the country....
, which is still performed every year in March.

This procession
Procession

A procession is, in general, an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner....
 commemorates the Miracle of the Host of 12 March 1345, a miracle
Miracle

File:Folio 171r - The Raising of Lazarus.jpgA miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker....
 which involved a dying man vomiting upon being given the Holy Sacrament and last rites
Last Rites

Last Rites can refer to* Anointing of the Sick Note: The term "Last Rites" is not equivalent to "Anointing of the Sick", since it refers also to two other distinct rites: Penance and Eucharist, the last of which, when administered to the dying, is known as "Viaticum", a word whose original meaning in Latin was "provision for the jour...
.






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A stille omgang (silent "procession" or circambulation) is an informal ritual as substitute for the Roman Catholic processions that were prohibited after the Reformation
Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe. It is thought to have begun in 1517 with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and may be considered to have ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648....
 in the Netherlands in the 16th century. The biggest and best known is the "Stille Omgang" of Amsterdam
Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands and List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands of North Holland in the west of the country....
, which is still performed every year in March.

This procession
Procession

A procession is, in general, an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner....
 commemorates the Miracle of the Host of 12 March 1345, a miracle
Miracle

File:Folio 171r - The Raising of Lazarus.jpgA miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker....
 which involved a dying man vomiting upon being given the Holy Sacrament and last rites
Last Rites

Last Rites can refer to* Anointing of the Sick Note: The term "Last Rites" is not equivalent to "Anointing of the Sick", since it refers also to two other distinct rites: Penance and Eucharist, the last of which, when administered to the dying, is known as "Viaticum", a word whose original meaning in Latin was "provision for the jour...
. The Host was then put in the fire, but miraculously remained intact and could be retrieved from the fire in one piece without the heat burning the hand of the person that retrieved it. This miracle
Miracle

File:Folio 171r - The Raising of Lazarus.jpgA miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker....
 was officially recognised as such by the Roman Catholic Church, and a large pilgrimage chapel ("Heilige Stede" or Holy Site) was built where the house had stood, and the Heiligeweg
Heiligeweg

The Heiligeweg is the street in Amsterdam that used to lead from the Heilige Stede to the Kalverstraat. Increasing numbers of pilgrims to this shrine made necessary a new street leading from Sloten to the shrine, and this new street became known as the Holy Way....
 (Holy Way) as a pilgrimage route to it.

The Stille Omgang fell out of practice at the beginning of the 19th century, but was revived in 1881. About 8,000 Catholics, and also some non-Catholics, from all over the Netherlands take part in it, after first having joined a mass in one of Amsterdam's churches. The procession always occurs on the night of Saturday on Sunday following 12 March.

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