During the festival in May flowers are offered to the virgin Mary at the altar in the church. Young children, girls, dressed in white, will visit the church with cut flowers and baskets of petals in their hands. While walking to the altar, they sprinkle the petals in honour of Mama Mary. At the altar they leave the bouquet of flowers. Every afternoon.
Nine days of prayer in honour of the Holy Cross, precedes the procession the Santa Cruzan.The procession is always the final part of the festival of Flores de Mayo. The procession is a pageant held in many cities and even in small villages.
It is more a parade than a religious procession. Instead of icons or images, beautiful young women (or gays) with appropriate theatrical costumes, portray biblical and historical characters. Almost all sagalas, the persons in the parade, symbolize queens from the past! Each sagala is dressed beautiful and is looking as the 'real' Reyna (Queen)!
The highlight of the celebration, is the Santa Cruzan, the procession on the last day of the festival in honour of Reyna Helena. In the year 326 A.D. she and her son left Rome and searched for the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. At last they found the Holy Cross and brought it back to Rome, the capital of their empire.