Senegal’s largest gathering of any kind is a pilgrimage — the Grand Magal of Touba, when millions of followers of the Mouride Sufi brotherhood travel to their holy city to honour Sheikh Amadou Bamba.
Photo: Kateryna Serdiuk, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Grand Magal of Touba is the annual pilgrimage of the Mouride Brotherhood, one of Senegal’s four Sufi orders, and no other event in the country, religious or secular, draws as much attention. Its date follows the Islamic lunar calendar, so it moves about eleven days earlier each year.
Grand Magal de Touba
On the 18th of Safar, millions of pilgrims of the Mouride brotherhood converge on the holy city of Touba to honour its founder, Sheikh Amadou Bamba, and the anniversary of his exile by the French — the largest celebration in Senegal and one of the most popular pilgrimages in the world.
July 22 – 23, 2027Estimated