Merriam-Webster recently selected "ginormous" as its top neologism of the year, and a good thing, because how else to describe last Saturday's United for Peace and Justice rally in our nation's capital? The masses crammed into the area between the Washington Monument and the White House — 15th to 17th streets, Constitution to Pennsylvania avenues, by the tens of thousands. Per usual, the headcount will vary widely depending on your source, but it appeared to be well over the 100,000 anticipated by organizers — and may have been twice that.

Part of the fuzzy math might have to do with the thousands browsing the National Book Festival right around the corner from the largest protest since at least the big anti-war stand taken on the National Mall in January of 2003, and possibly since the Vietnam War, according to Bob Smith, staff coordinator of Swarthmore's Brandywine Peace Community.

Speakers included Cindy Sheehan, Ralph Nader and the Rev. Al Sharpton, but they were at constant risk of being drowned out by megaphone-led chants and drum-corps-based performance art — a fusion of hardcore marching band, earth biscuits with djimbes and paper-mâché puppet waving.

"I was delighted to see people of all ages there," said Harvey Chanin, a co-founder of Northeast Philly for Peace and Justice. "There were people from the civil rights movement who haven't been active in 35 years who have been really invigorated by this, and there were high school and college students."

"We have about 150 people who came down from Chester County, at least. Some people drove," said Karen Porter, founder of the Chester County Peace Movement in West Chester. "We could have brought double that, but we couldn't get another bus. We were told by an Illinois bus broker that every bus on the East Coast was headed for the D.C. demonstration."

Ed Natale of West Philadelphia came down on a bus with a group of anarchist activists. "The war is a symptom of capitalism and oppression," he said, explaining his reasons for joining the protest. "Although we need to stop the war, it's more important that we stop the things that cause war."

That was the message carried into the evening with the Operation Ceasefire concert, hosted by Jello Biafra, at the foot of the Washington Monument (visit www.citypaper.net for a review). Speakers appeared between the acts, which included the Bellrays, Steve Earle, Joan Baez and Thievery Corporation. One of the most touching moments happened when the Lakota Sioux Nation presented Cindy Sheehan with a star quilt made with the prayers of the tribe behind every stitch, "to honor her for her courage in making a stand against the Iraq war." And stand she did. The events carried on throughout the weekend, culminating in civil disobedience action outside the White House on Monday, where Sheehan was the first to get arrested.