The experience of World Youth Day is very unique, personalized and inculturated on your values. Yet with all these diversity of perception and hands-on, it snowballs into one big truth: The awe and joy that one feels as they participate in the WYD events is tremendously inexplicable, mysterious and found nowhere else that even the feeling of winning a million dollar in a lottery would not suffice to overshadow such emotions. The camaraderie, hospitality and brotherhood among peoples are so intricately weaved that WYD events has become the dynamic mecca of international understanding, spiritual rejuvenation and enhancement of faith.

ORIGIN

World Youth Day is a youth-oriented Catholic Church event. While the event itself celebrates the Catholic faith, the invitation to attend extends to all youth, regardless of religious convictions. World Youth Day is not associated with International Youth Day or any of the international observance days. World Youth Day (or in short ‘WYD’) was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1986. It is celebrated on a diocesan level annually, and at a week-long international level every two to three years at different locations. The international level events attract hundreds of thousands of youth from almost every country on the planet. It is a major part of the upsurge in Catholic Youth Work in some countries over recent years; for example, the Director of Catholic Youth Services for England and Wales has said of the event that it would have far-reaching effects, not restricted to those who attended.

In the month before the Extraordinary Synod, John Paul II took the occasion of the United Nations’ International Youth Year to launch one of the signature initiatives of his pontificate-the World Youth Days that would draw millions of young people on pilgrimage to Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia, and Oceania.

The idea of the World Youth Day, the Pope remembered, could be traced back to his young friends in Srodowisko and their exploration of the personal and vocational dynamics of adolescence and young adulthood. His early papal pilgrimages, in Italy and abroad, had convinced him that a pastoral strategy of accompaniment with young people was as valid for a pope as it had been for a fledgling priest.

Srodowisko, a term suggested by Wojtyla himself in the 1960, is now used as a self-description by a group of some 200 men and women, many of them married couples with grandchildren, which first began take shape during his university Chaplaincy at St. Florian’s Church in Krakow’s old town, in Poland. Srodowisko does not translate easily. “Environment” is one possibility, but John Paul II prefers more humanistic “milieu.” In any case, what would later come to be known as Srodowisko involved the fusing of several networks of young adults and young married couples with whom Father Wojtyla worked. The earliest of these called it self Rodzinka, or “little family.” A later group of Wojtyla youngsters called themselves Paczka, “packet” or “parcel”. Srodowisko saw youth groups evolve into networks of intellectual conversation. Both youngsters and intellectuals became involved in holiday excursions. The word itself maybe hard to translate, but that this network of friendships was crucial in shaping the ideas and the ministry of Karol Wojtyla the priest, later bishop, and ultimately pope, is indisputable. John Paul II marked the UN’s International Youth Year and his Palm Sunday, 1985, meeting with young people in Rome with an Apostolic Letter, To the Youth of the World, which mixed reminiscence, exhortation, and the Pope’s phenomenological approach to anything human in fairly equal proportions.

CULTURE AND TRADITION

World Youth Day is commonly celebrated in a way similar to many events. The most emphasized and well known traditional theme is the unity and presence of numerous different cultures. Flags and other national declarations are displayed amongst people to show their attendance at the events and proclaim their own themes of Catholicism. Such is usually done through chants and singing of other national songs involving a Catholic theme.

Over the course of the major events taking place, national objects are traded between pilgrims. Flags, shirts, crosses, and other Catholic icons are carried amongst pilgrims which are later traded as souvenirs to other people from different countries of the world. A unity of acceptance among people is also common, with all different cultures coming together to appreciate one another.

One notable traditions of World Youth Day is the tradition of wearing shirts, caps, scarves and other accessories that could express the uniqueness and identity of a certain group. Backpacking has also been a unique tradition in the event wherein participants takes the active role of a pilgrim and sleeping anywhere in the venue of the world youth day, gathering around bonfires, and singing religious songs and praying.

Other largely recognized traditions include the Pope’s public appearance, commencing with his arrival around the city with the ‘Popemobile’ and then with his final Mass held at the event. Such is the regard for the large distance of pilgrimage walks performed by the attenders of the event. The most recent festival in Sydney recorded an estimated distance of a 10 km walk as roads and other public transport systems were closed off.

Pope Benedict XVI has criticized the tendency to view WYD as a kind of rock festival ; he stressed that the event should not be considered a “variant of modern youth culture” but as the fruition of a “long exterior and interior path”.

DIOCESAN LEVEL

Events at Diocese-level celebrations are decided by a local team usually appointed by the Ordinary.

Since these celebrations usually occur during Palm Sunday, it almost always will include the Holy Mass of Passion Sunday – where Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem in his final days is commemorated.

Music, prayer, reconciliation opportunities, as well as adoration of the Blessed Sacrament may also be part of the celebrations.