Monti Fest -Cl. Winston Pinto

Monti Fest

The feast of the Nativity of Mary is celebrated on the 8th of September, nine months after the 8th of December, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Mangalorean Christians celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary as "Monti Fest." Monti is a Konkani name for Mother Mary. This feast also involves the blessing of Novem(new crops). The festival derives its name from the Monte Mariano Church at Farangipet in the South of Mangalore and was initiated by Joachim Miranda, a Goan Catholic priest at Farangipet in 1763. Though Tippu Sultan destroyed the churches of Mangalore, he spared Monte Mariano Church because of the friendship of his father Hyder Ali with Father Miranda. Konkani speakers of Mangalorean origin celebrate the nativity feast in a unique way. This feast day is celebrated along with the harvest festival which is a thanksgiving for the new crops. It has been said in the "Gospel of James," that St. Anna, the mother of Mary, was barren until she was quite old. God blessed them with a girl child that is MARY. She was 'the first fruit' in the family. This can be one of the reasons why the nativity feast is also celebrated as a thanksgiving for the first harvest. Feast preparations to honour Mother Mary begin nine days in advance along with novena prayers. Adults and children attend the novena together as a family. Children along with their basket of flowers and community leaders with freshly grown paddy corn, enter the church in a procession and present the gifts as an offering of the first bounty of nature to Mother Mary. A small statue of infant Mary is placed on a table in front of the altar. The paddy corn is placed next to the statue to be blessed and distributed to the congregation after mass.

When the blessed paddy enters the house, it is placed on the altar with great respect next to a lit candle. This is symbolic of the hope of having food for the rest of the year. Once the meal is prepared, some of the grains of paddy are peeled and crushed and mixed with coconut milk, payasam(vorn), or even in the beaten sweet rice. Then the dish is eaten with prayers and devotion. The dish mixed with the new grain is called "Novem." The oldest member in the house serves "Novem" to all. The new grain is also sent to the family members who are away from home, so this feast also encourages family bonding and togetherness. On this day the family sits together and after the Angelus and a prayer to mother Mary, partakes of the meal together. Like every other year, Monti fest takes me back to my childhood days. We would run to others' houses searching for flowers. We would then keep the best flowers at Mary's statue placed at the centre of the church. The remaining flowers were offered at the grotto outside the church. On the feast day, there is the solemn mass and blessing of the paddy. Children would receive sugarcane as well as gifts from the parish priest after mass. Times have changed and so has the manner of celebration, yet the zeal and enthusiasm with which the Nativity feast is celebrated are the same even now. Our mother is the same even now. I pray that she protects and keeps us always under her mantle. Cl. Winston Pinto