Wander Woman

I was going to office one day when I noticed a number of people clad in saffron walking in a single file on the road. They were chanting something and were also carrying something on their shoulders. On closer inspection, they turned out to be wooden crosses. I asked my friends about it and they said that these people were pilgrims to the Malayatoor church and that every year they make a pilgrimage bearing these crosses and walking the whole way from wherever they are. It surprised me to hear this because #1) They were saffron clad(saffron, btw, is a colour denoting Hinduism) and #2) They looked like the " bol bam " pilgrims of the north(of India) who also undertake a similar journey to a temple of Lord Shiva every year. Every Year thousands of devotees in the Northern part of India will take water from the Ganges and walk thousands of miles to pour that sacred water on a shivalinga. How come these customs are so similar when the people themselves are so far removd geographic...