Pics and Report by Gilbert Saldanha

Sep 13: Monthi feast celebration was held on September 8 at St Francis of Assisi Church, Kengeri Satellite Town, Bengaluru.

Konkani Christian Association Kengeri had a very special and memorable celebration of the nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Upholding the ancestral and traditional way of celebrating this feast and spreading the moral values is what added more grandeur and beauty to the celebration of the feast, especially for the Konkani families. It is not only the celebration of the birthday of Mother Mary, it is also a celebration of the first fruits of the field. It is known as family feast for it brings the entire family together to give thanks to God for his abundant blessings. It was a lovely sight to watch children with basket full of flowers gathered around to honour the mother of Jesus. Joy and gladness radiated in their eyes as they offered flowers to the Mother with great eagerness and excitement. Children were accompanied by parents, family members and relatives. This increased the number of those present for the celebration to 250. The corn was blessed and distributed among the faithful.

The Main celebrant for the Eucharistic celebration was Fr. Alwyn Dias, OFM Cap., the Director of Darshan College. Fr. Sathish Kumar OFM Cap., the Parish Priest too shared the joy by concelebrating the Eucharist. Fr. Alwyn in his homily invited everyone to walk in the footsteps of Mother Mary and grow in the love of Jesus to strengthen our family bonds.

Sponsors were honoured by giving blessed candles. (murdom vaath). Scholarship cheques were issued to poor children for the purpose of their education, this made Monthi feast all the more meaningful. To sweeten the moment there were sugarcanes and payasam.

The melodious choir too added much flavour to the celebration. The entire celebration reminded the participants of family celebrations in the coastal area. It was truly like Mangaluru in Bengaluru.