Assumption of Virgin Mary, Arginia

At the church in the tiny settlement of Arginia, high up on the mountainside above the south coast, there is an icon of the Virgin Mary depicting her with snakes. Each August, around the feast of the Assumption on the 15th, snakes appear at the church and rest on the icon. Parishioners and visitors are invited to touch the snakes and place them onto their heads and chest. Tradition has it that the snakes disappear after the liturgy until reappearing the next year.