Pics: Lovelyn Vincent D’Mello
Sharjah, Sep 12: St Michael's Mangalorean Konkani Community (SMMKC) here, celebrated Monti fest on September 6. Almost 800 children offered flowers to Mother Mary and nearly 3,000 Konkani Christians participated in the grand celebration.
Leading upto the day of the feast, a 9 day novena was held from August 28 to September 5, which included 3 days of Konkani spiritual retreat – the 'Triduum' from August 27 29. Fr Jason Pais led the community in prayer throughout the retreat and the 9 days of novena.
On Thursday September 6, the evening celebration started with the traditional brass band led by Ramiro Mascarenhas playing melodious tunes of hymns in the church compound welcoming the people to the celebration. The grand celebration started with showering of flowers by children at the grotto of Mother Mary.
Fr Stephen Lewis, spiritual director of SMMKC, led the prayer ceremony at the grotto and the children showered flowers to Mother Mary to the tune 'Moriyek Hogollsiyan'. The traditional 'Khanshi' was blessed at the grotto and then brought into the church in a procession by the priests, altar servers and members of SMMKC represented by Roque Rego, Lawrence Monis and Alwyn. The statue of Infant Mary was carried ceremoniously by Idel John Menezes.
The mass was celebrated by Fr Jason Pais and co-celebrated by Fr Stephen Lewis and Fr Varghese Chempoly, parish priest of St Michael’s Church, Sharjah. Lancy Carlo lead the choir during the holy mass, which was much appreciated and applauded by the entire gathering.
After the holy mass, cake and juice were distributed to the gathering while the brass band kept the audience entertained. Meanwhile, the stage was set for the much awaited cultural programme.
The Cultural programme started with a welcome dance by little children which was choreographed by Prameela Dsouza.
The welcome dance was followed by a joke enacted by Konkan Taram team. A short stage programme was conducted which saw felicitation to the priests, main sponsors, support sponsors and well-wishers. The main sponsors of the evening – Roque Rego, Creative Land Equipment Rentals LLC and Idel John Menezes and Frank Lobo of Galaxy Electromechanical Systems LLC and all other sponsors were felicitated with flower bouquets.
Caesar’s Confectionary, Nestle Water Company, Rawabi Juices LLC, Tiffany and Al Seer General Trading LLC were specially felicitated and thanked for their valuable support to SMMKC by sponsoring cake, water, juices and goodies to children during the novena days and on the feast day.
The committee also recognised and honoured Simon Rego, senior member of the Konkani community, who served selflessly for the cause of the church and the Konkani community and still continues to do so inspite of his age.
SMMKC co-ordinator Joachim Menezes welcomed everyone on behalf of the committee. Parish priest Fr Varghese Chempoly blessed the new corn mixed in milk and the same was distributed to the gathering. He delivered a short message on the occasion. Fr Stephen Lewis in his speech thanked everyone who contributed toward the success of the feast. He specially thanked SMMKC co-ordinator Joachim Menezes for his leadership and meticulous planning of the event. Joachim Menezes and family was felicitated.
The cultural programme continued thereafter and consisted of some amazing performances which kept the audience thoroughly entertained.
There was a total of 4 dances, 3 skits, 1 medley song by the English choir of the church comprising children from Konkani, Malayalam, Tamil and Marathi Communities.
The programmed ended with a dance session by DJ Norman and the crowd danced to their hearts’ content.
The cultural programme was ably compered by the well-known Roshan D’Silva from Vamanjoor.
The evening ended with a sumptuous buffet dinner of traditional 'Novem Jevan' and everyone went home with fond memories of a grand celebration.