Pics: Austin D'Souza
Chicago, Sep 11: The Mangalorean Konkan Christians Association of Chicago (MKCAS) celebrated the Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary (birth of Mother Mary) at St Hubert Catholic Church, Hoffman Estates. This event signifies the pure and simple love and devotion of Mother Mary. This event also signifies the unity and nurturance among the kith and kin by offering the new crop to the Creator and partake it with family. This celebration is similar in its concept to Onam in Kerala and Thanksgiving in USA. This is the 16th annual Monti Fest celebration by this association.
The programme began with a procession of celebrants especially children carrying flowers to express their love, respect and devotion to the birth of Mother Mary and culminated in front of the church altar. With the singing of 'Sokkod Sangata Mellyam' and 'Moriyek Hogollsiyam', children were rejoicing with admiration, joy and respect to offer flowers to Infant Mary.
The holy eucharist was celebrated by the main celebrant Fr Cyril Fernandes and the co-celebrants were Fr Henry Sequeira and Fr Lancy D’Silva. In his homily, Fr Henry Sequeira narrated how Monti fest was celebrated as one of the harvest festivals back in Mangalurean diocese. He glorified the humbleness and the simple nature of Jesus Christ and Mother Mary in working with common people and how we should lead our lives in the path they have shown us. He stressed that priests and clerics are equals and neither of them are superior. He said we have to accept mistakes made by some priests and we should not keep them on a pedestal and accept them as just human beings. He congratulated all the participants for keeping the Mangalurean culture and customs alive in a far away land in USA. The MKCA choir members, under the leadership of Concy Mesquita added a special touch by singing hymns exclusively in Konkani.
The MKCA president, Vissia D’Souza welcomed all the attendees for their participation in this family feast.
Fr Cyril, blessed the new crop (Novem), which was produced in India and all the participants partook the 'Novem in Roce'. The programme compere Dr Austin Prabhu requested all the participants to savor the taste of Mangalurean snacks and the open bar.
All the attendees irrespective of age were excited to participate in games conducted by Sarita D’Souza. Musical Chairs for children winners were – Rayaan D’Souza and Jenna Godlyn D’Souza. The winners of the Musical Chairs with a twist are Ashlyn Mathias and Ivan S Nidhir. The festive mood was all around the hall and children did exploit the full use of the programme by running around and dancing in-and-around the floor.
In vote of thanks, programme chairperson, James Saldanha thanked the parish priest of St Hubert’s Church, Fr Mike Scherschel for his gracious help in providing venue for this celebration. He thanked all the families who cooked delicious food for this programme and all the members who helped in arranging this event. She thanked all the attendees for their gracious presence and making this celebration a memorable one.
Dr Austin Prabhu recognized the chairpersons of this programme James and Rita Saldanha. All the first timers for this programme and the members who prepared mouth watering dishes were recognized by inviting them to the podium.
There was a wonderful bonanza of vegetarian menu consisting of 11 items along with vorn and ice cream for the dinner to relish on. All this was home prepared by the MKCA family members. All the attendees were happy and content to have these Mangalurean dishes.
The participants enjoyed to take over the floor and dance till they dropped to the tunes of Konkani, Hindi, Spanish and English songs provided by DJ Queenie Mendonca.