Maha Kumbh Mela

Once every 12 years in northern India, tens of millions of Hindus gather in the city of Allahabad for what is thought to be the largest religious meeting in the world — the Maha Kumbh Mela, or Big Pitcher Festival.

55 days

The 55-day gathering is held at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythic Saraswati rivers, and celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a battle for nectar that would grant them immortality. As one of the gods fled with a pitcher of the nectar, a drop is said to have spilt on the spot.

50 million

The last gathering in 2013 drew 50 million, who camped on the river banks in makeshift shanties and tents. Participants believe a bath in the river on one of the festival’s auspicious bathing days can rid them of their sins.

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people were killed in a crush at a train station after railway officials announced a last-minute change in platforms in 2013. There are also several smaller Kumbh Mela gatherings elsewhere in India, each drawing its own mass of millions.

John Palis II in Manila

The turnout for Pope John Paul II’s Sunday Mass on January 15, 1995, in the Philippine capital’s Rizal Park — the same venue where Pope Francis celebrates mass on Sunday — is considered the largest for the head of the Roman Catholic Church

5 million

Vatican officials estimated the crowd at 5 million people, including hundreds of thousands who packed streets kilometres away from the park. Many were perched atop cars and climbed trees for a view of the pope.

2 million

At the previous record-setting Mass, 2 million people turned out in 1979 at John Paul’s hometown of Krakow for his first visit to Poland after his elevation to the papacy. A Vatican spokesman said the church had planned for a crowd of 1 million. But shortly after dawn, officials raised the estimate to 2 million.

Rio’s Copacanaba Beach

Vatican and Brazilian officials said 3.7 million people gathered on July 28, 2013, to see Pope Francis celebrate World Youth Day on the iconic Copacabana beach.

Islam’s annual hajj brings around 3 million to 5 million pilgrims from around the world to Makkah, the faith’s holiest sites, to perform nearly a week of rites. It’s a pilgrimage that all able-bodied Muslims are required by Islam to carry out, if they can.

1,400 killed in crush

In 1990, more than 1,400 were killed in a crush in a pedestrian tunnel. One ritual in particular — the symbolic stoning of the devil, when pilgrims pass by three walls to pelt it with stones — has seen several stampedes, the deadliest in 2006, when nearly 350 were killed. Then there’s fires: More than 300 were killed in a 1997 fire that broke out in a tent city housing pilgrims.

Improved infrastructure

In recent years, however, Saudi Arabia has overhauled the infrastructure at the sites for crowd management, creating giant ramps to give greater access and avenues that keep foot traffic going only one direction. The 2006 stampede was the last major deadly incident.

The Paris Rally

At least 1.2 million to 1.6 million people streamed through the streets of Paris on January 11 to mourn the victims of the deadly attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a kosher supermarket and police officers.

Intense security blanketed Paris as more than 40 world leaders headed the sombre procession in a show of unity against terrorism, with throngs rivalling those that followed the liberation of Paris from the Nazis.