Buying Phula, Kobu, Alu, Dento Etc Kodilyachi Catholics Gearing Up for ‘Monti Festh’!
Mangaluru : Few days ago Hindus were seen buying the required essentials needed for the feasts like Birthday feasts of Krishna (Krishnashtami) and birthday of Lord Ganesha (Ganesh Chaturthi), now it’s the turn of Mangalorean Catholics to buy the required vegetables, flowers, and other essentials needed to celebrate the The Nativity of Our Lady or the birthday of our beloved Mother Mary, also called as “Monthi Fest” by Mangalorean Catholic community, which is also celebrated as a harvest festival like ‘Onam’ of Kerala, ‘Pongal’ of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. But this year Monti Festh is not going to be BIG and GRAND,as it used to be celebrated in the past-Thanks to Coronavirus, which has totally taken away the fun and frolic of this Mangalorean Catholic feast, enjoyed by children more than the adults.
As per the local history, “Monthi Festh” has its origin in 1763 in Farangipet in the outskirts of Mangaluru. Here, Fr. Joachin Miranda, a Goan Catholic priest of secular credentials, who lived around 250 years ago, started this practice on top of a hill, on the northern bank of the Nethravati river where lies an ancient place called Monte Moriano. Though Tippu Sultan destroyed the churches of Canara, he spared Monte Mariano Church in deference to the friendship of his father Hyder Ali with Father Miranda. Oral history goes to state that the Nativity festival of our Lady was first celebrated at Monte Moriano to coincide with the annual feast of the church. The term ‘Monthi’ has been derived from the word ‘Monte’ and over the years has been modified to be known as ‘Monthi Fest’. On this solemn occasion, the Catholics partake in a community feast or a family feast having only vegetarian dishes.
The celebration usually starts nine days in advance with novena prayers to Mother Mary, during which period small children take special pride in offering flowers everyday- and this year the Novena started on 30 August. The grand celebration of Monti Festh is held with traditional gaiety and religious fervour at all the Churches which are decorated tastefully for the occasion, however, this year it will not be decorated like last or earlier. You should know, why? Special masses, feasts, religious ceremonies and a series of festivities in churches, parishes and homes is the order of the day. On this special day, the Catholic community members take the freshly grown paddy stalks to their respective churches as an offering of the first bounty of nature to Mother Mary. Special prayers are offered pleading the Holy Mother to keep the fertility of nature for generations to come and provide all the bounties of nature to the children of the world.
It is a tradition in Mangalore for the families to gather together and share a vegetarian meal consisting of at least of five vegetarian dishes. Sorry, no Dukhra mass and Soro! The dishes, “alu-dento” and “vorn” are the must in every household. The grains taken form blessed paddy stalk or corn is added to the milk or “vorn” and offered to the members of the family in a symbolic gesture of thanksgiving for our Lady’s blessings. The festival has a special relevance in the modern world as it keeps the community together not just in South Canara (Dakshina Kannada) and Mangaluru city but in all different continents where Mangalorean Catholics have settled. They continue to celebrate Monthi fest in whatever way they can in their countries and enjoy the nostalgia connected with their own families and parishes back home.
As a child, I remember gathering flowers from the garden and also from the neighborhood, and carrying them to Church in a dish/plate- but these days children have the privilege of carrying the flowers in fancy baskets, which are sold in various stores, and they have been selling like hot cakes. Images of Baby Virgin Mary are seen in large numbers at these shops, especially Gerosa Company. Even vegetable markets/shops have stocked up all the vegetables needed by the Catholic faithful for the big family feast on September 8. Flower shops have been making a brisk business during this time of the year, where few Hindu festivals just got over, and added to them, now the Catholic feast “Monti Festh”.
So it is also a festival representing the symbol of family unity. This feast is celebrated with joy and happiness as it is the harvest festival as well, a time when the farmer is getting the crop ready for the year. Monti Festh is the celebration of family bonds, filial relationships and a feast which makes us aware that we are very much part of the nature around us bringing us closer to Mother Nature. The specialty that we venerate and celebrate Mother Mary’s birthday because she is the mother of the Messiah the savior, redeemer Lord Jesus Christ. So automatically as Jesus is the son of God she is becomes our heavenly mother too. It us really amazing to see that all Konkani Catholics unite wherever they are spread across the Globe with one spirit and zeal and make it a point to celebrate this great festival of Monti fest all over the world.
No doubt, Monti Fest is gaining popularity all over the globe these days, as it is celebrated in every town where the population of Konkani-speaking people is sizeable. Singing of hymns, ‘Sakkad Sangatha Melyam’ and ‘Moriyek Hogolsyam’ has been an inherent part of Monti Festh. The people feel blessed and blissful by paying obeisance to Mother Mary on her birth anniversary. One of the earliest Monti Fests was celebrated at Milagres Church in the city in 1906. On behalf of Team Mangalorean, wishing our Konkan Catholic readers a blessed “Monti Festh”, a day in advance!
