The crowds then streamed into the tent cities set up outside town, wearing seamless white robes symbolizing the equality of mankind under God and chanting, "Labbeik, allahum, labbeik" ¡ª Arabic for "I am here, Lord."

The heartier ones walked, carrying food, water and luggage. Others packed into buses and minibuses, some riding on the roof alongside baggage, as vehicles jammed highways in the hajj's annual epic of traffic control.

Most pilgrims went to Mina, a region in a desert valley 8 miles from Mecca. Ibrahim and tens of thousands of others went directly to Mount Arafat, where all pilgrims will gather Friday for the first major ritual of the pilgrimage.

Much of the day was spent settling into tents, with people from each Muslim country getting their own section of the sprawling temporary city.

"I've been hoping my whole life to be able to make this journey. Four times I didn't make the lottery, but this time God smiled on me," Ibrahim said, sitting on a foam mattress among suitcases.

In his tent, three fellow Egyptians debated the proper way to perform the complicated rituals. "Ask Sheik Hassan, he'll know," one of them said, and another quickly called the cleric traveling with their group on his mobile phone.

Some pilgrims climbed a hill on the edge of the tent city to pray at the top. Indonesian women helped each other clamber up the rocks. A Syrian woman wept as she held up her hands, praying for an ill relative. A crowd of Libyans chanted: "We have sinned, Lord. You are our heart, keep us from sin."

Saudi authorities estimate nearly 3 million pilgrims are attending this year's hajj. More than 1.6 million come from abroad. The rest are Saudis or foreigners who live in the kingdom.

More than 30,000 police and other security officers fanned out around the holy sites to help smooth pedestrian traffic in hopes of avoiding the deadly stampedes that have marred previous pilgrimages.

A stampede last year killed more than 360 people at Mina during a ritual symbolizing the stoning of the devil. The rush began when some pilgrims stumbled over luggage.

Saudi Arabia spent more than $1 billion over the past year to renovate the stoning site, where the crowds hurl stones at three stone walls symbolizing the devil.

After last year's stampede, the huge platform on which pilgrims stood to throw rocks was torn down and replaced by one with more exit and entrance ramps. In the coming years, the complex will be expanded to offer multiple levels for the stoning.

On Friday, pilgrims will spend the day and night in prayer and meditation at Mount Arafat, the site where Muhammad gave his final sermon in 632. They then return to Mina for the stoning ritual.

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