Dubai: Ferarites UAE celebrated the Nativity Feast of our Blessed Virgin Mary (Monti Fest) on Friday, 18 Sept, 2015 at the Winny’s Restaurant in Karama. The master of the ceremony, Clara Fernandes gave a brief introduction about the importance of Monti Fest to the gathering. The programme started with a prayer session conducted by Roshan Lobo and Leslie Pinto.
President Norbert Sequeira welcomed the guests and requested all Ferar parishioners, living in the UAE, to come together as one family and participate in all the activities conducted by the association, and requested the new parishioners to register their names as the members of Ferarites UAE.
Guest of honour Fr Robert Lasrado, assistant priest at St Mary’s Church, Dubai and Spiritual Director for the Mangalorean Community, appreciated the efforts of Ferarites UAE to bring all the parishioners under one umbrella and, requested the whole Konkan community to keep our traditions alive, highlighted the importance of Konkani language and urged to teach Konkani to our young children. Ex-parishioner and well-wisher, Joseph Mathias in his speech briefly explained how Monti fest originated and how it binds all of us as one family.
The traditional celebration commenced with a procession, followed by showering of flowers in front of the Grotto of Mother Mary. Young and elders joined in the singing of hymns “Sakkad Sangatha Mellyam” and “Moriyek Hogolsiam”. Blessed Novem mixed with milk was served to all. Leslie Fernandes conducted the prayer ceremony before “Novem Jevan”. A traditional vegetarian meal and sweet dish “Vorn” was served to all on banana leaves. Various cultural activities delighted the gathering. Upcoming stars Renzil Tauro, Alvira Saldanha, Kenisha Sequeira and Rydell Tauro danced to the Bollywood mix numbers.
Clara Fernandes conducted various spot games and kept the spirit of celebration on throughout the programme. Exciting prizes were distributed to the winners. Thereafter, lunch, Housie Housie and raffle draw was conducted by Leslie Pinto and Roshan Lobo. Prizes were distributed to the winners. Children who entertained the crowd were also honoured. President Norbert Sequeira thanked each and every one for making this feast a memorable one.