Media Release
Oman, Sep 11: As every year the church celebrates mother Mary's birthday on September 8, this year too the Mangalurean community of Sohar continued the legacy of celebrating Monti fest on September 7 at St Antony’s Church Sohar.
All the faithful assembled and began the devotion to mother Mary by praying the Rosary followed by the traditional showering of flowers on the statue of mother Mary. It was indeed a nostalgic moment for all the children and adults. A festive mass was offered by the parish priest, Fr Augustine Fernandes. People marched toward the church in procession along with the priest and the altar servers.
After the mass, people gathered at the hall for cultural programme and the traditional 'nove jevan'.
At the outset, a ritual of consuming'novem' drink,prepared by mixing the'kanshiyo' with coconut milk was served to all. The eldest in the community did the honors. The Angelus was recited in devotion to mother Mary which set the mood for all the attendees as one big family gathered for the celebrations of the family feast. The first of the three folds of happiness (thidhodoullas) of this day was accomplished by this feeling. September 8 is also celebrated as harvest festival. It is customary to offer new crop to mother Mary on this day, to thank her for the blessing she showered on our daily bread. Though several miles away from the homeland, the custom has lived on through vegetables and fruits carried in procession and offered to mother Mary. An apt song was sung by the children 'Novens Jevan suru kartha....'.
Though she enjoys the glory of heaven, the Virgin Mary is still lovingly concerned with the struggles of Christ's body on earth. So she constantly prays for our needs with a mother's love. The children from the community presented a tablo depicting her importance. 'Her intercession aids in our salvation' was the message conveyed to the audience. This accomplished the second of the three folds of the happiness of the day. Devotion and trust in mother Mary is the essence of true Christian faith as she was chosen by God to ease our pathway to glory after the original sin committed by Adam and Eve.
Birthday celebrations bring happiness to the celebrant as well as to family and friends. Next to the birth of Jesus, Mary’s birth offers the greatest possible happiness to the world. Each time we celebrate her birth, we can confidently hope for an increase of peace in our hearts and in the world at large. The Catholic Church celebrates today the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary on its traditional fixed date of September 8, nine months after the December 8 celebration of her Immaculate Conception as the child of Saints Joachim and Anne. The birthday cake was shared by all as a symbol of mother Mary's birthday. This was the third of the three folds of happiness of the day (September 8).
The evening also included medal distribution to the winners and runners up of the cricket and throwball matches held on August 31, 'Monti fest cup'. Cricket matches included two categories; ladies, kids mixed and gents only. Throwball matches for ladies only were held in the evening. To everyone's surprise, all were invited for a yoga session by the representatives of Ooredoo Oman (Sim company). Various games for children as part of the promotion were also organized. Lucky draw was won by one of the active members of the community. All the members were happy to receive a free T-shirt by the organizers and happily posed for their product.
After the felicitation of the winners of the 'monti fest cup' it was time for meals.
'Novem jevan' was blessed by the priest, Fr Augustine Fernandes. People relished the various delicacies of authentic Mangalurean dishes prepared for the day namely Sone sukka, Karam, Sango, Padvale, Pathravade, Aludento, Bittergourd, Bendi, Moong, Kuvalo and vorn. The food was served on banana leaves along with salt, pickle and rice. A few cultural programmes like singing and dancing by a few members kept the atmosphere alive. The celebrations concluded by singing 'Laudate'.
Monti fest celebrations 2018 at the St Antony Church Sohar was a day of unity and happiness.