Media Release
Abu Dhabi, Sep 7: The St Joseph’s Konkani Community (SJKC), Abu Dhabi, celebrated 'Monti Fest', the birthday of mother Mary, on September 5 at St Joseph Church. Online streaming for the faithful who could not attend in person due to the pandemic was also held.
The Portuguese conquered Goa in 1510 and founded their empire in India…Monte Mariano which literally means 'Mount Mary' whose name has occupied a special place in the annals of Catholic history in Mangaluru.
'Monti Fest’ is a family feast for all the Konkani speaking community traditionally celebrated as a harvest festival by the community on the west coast of India. The Konkani community in Abu Dhabi celebrated this feast with grandeur, thanking God for the fruit of the earth, for nature and for farmers who toil to give bread to the world.
Due to the pandemic this year, the SJKC community prepared a nine-day online Novena, focusing on special themes for the family preaching namely, mother Mary is the model for our family life, faith, humility, acceptance, family as a domestic church, let go of things, kids follow in the parents' footsteps, role of a grandparent in the family, relation between a child and a mother. This wonderful preaching was done by Fr Darick Paul D’Souza OFM cap selecting a wonderful liturgy. After the novena, the priest offered flowers on behalf of all, while the family members offered flowers in their respective homes singing, 'Moriyek Hogolsiyam' remembering the memories of the past where all the parishioners of different ages took part in honouring mother Mary.
The festal celebrations began at 10.30 am with the priest entering in procession with mother Mary, corn and a bouquet of flowers followed by a blessing of the new corn by the vicariate chancellor, Fr Valerian Fernandes and the solemn festive mass presided over Fr Rathan Nicolas Almeida. Special preaching was done by Fr Darick Paul D’Souza on the internal happiness in this pandemic vs the external happiness impact in our daily life. There was an ocean of faithful who participated in the liturgy with great devotion.