A large number of pilgrims from Sri Lanka also will participate in the festival.The Sri Lankan Navy, in addition to the security for the festival, provides all infrastructure facilities, including installation of sanitary and drinking water facilities to the thousands of both Sri Lankan and Indian devotees who attend the festival.

India ceded the uninhabited Kachchativu Island to Sri Lanka in 1974. However, the annual festivities of the St. Anthony's Church, which was established in 1905, is attended by a large number of Indian as well as Sri Lankan devotees with a great sense of spiritual attachment to this Island. The practice was interrupted during the three-decade long conflict during which the public was not allowed to visit the island due to security situatio