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50,000 Candles Lit for World Record...and Peace

Filipinos aim to promote world peace with record-busting feat.
Image: Tens of thousands of participants stand beside bamboo torches using candles to form a message of peace.
Participants stand beside bamboo torches using candles to form a message of peace in Oton township, Iloilo province, central Philippines.Surasit Kosuwan / The Middle Way Meditation Institute via AP

Thousands of Filipinos joined hands to light over 50,000 candles in the name of world peace Monday night, as they attempted to set a new world record.

Bamboo torches containing a total of 56,680 candles were set out to form a giant map of the Philippines and the message "World Peace Through Inner Peace" in a dark, muddy field in Iloilo city.

Guinness World Records has yet to authenticate the attempt. According to the organization's website, the current record using 35,478 candles was established in Faisalabad, Pakistan in 2009.

Image: PHILIPPINES-ENTERTAINMENT-SYMBOL-RECORD
An aerial photo shows the image formed by 56,680 candles lit in Iloilo City, central Philippines.The Middle Way Meditation Institute via AFP - Getty Images

— The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report