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Mangaluru. Sep 08.2015: The Feast of Blessing of New corns-Nativity of Our Lady ’Monthi Fest’ was celebrated with much pomp and colour, with hundreds of children and adults alike showering flowers on the statue of the Nativity of Mother Mary to mark the Birth Day of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the various churches in Mangaluru on Tuesday, 8th September.
Every year, on September 8, across Mangalore in particular, the Catholic community gears up for the celebration of Monthi feast of our Lady.The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was celebrated with great devotion and joy in and around Mangaluru.
All the people marched in procession by carrying paddy corns and children carrying flowers.For the catholic community in Mangalore, the harvest festival coincides with the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus. The feast falls on September 8th every year and is the culmination of an eight days novena wherein children shower flowers daily at the grotto of Mother Mary in their respective parishes.
Every Mangalorean Catholic is familiar with the tradition that forms the basis of this feast. It is a feast that is given the utmost importance in every catholic household. The tradition has been carried to foreign shores and celebrated with the same splendour by Mangalorean Catholics worldwide.
It is a harvest feast for the whole family where the day begins with mass with children and devotees adorning the statue of our Lady with flowers. Prior to the solemn mass, there is a procession of the parishes from a certain destination to the respective churches.
Hymns are sung in full chorus along with the devotees.Traditionally, the paddy or first grain is brought to the Altar in a procession and blest by the priest. The offertory procession includes the statue of Mother Mary, sugarcane, vegetables, flowers, fruits, Bread and Wine.
The first harvest of sugarcane and paddy is distributed to all attendees of the solemn feast.Mangalorean families celebrate the festal lunch with different varieties of vegetarian food. The food is tradionationally served on a plantain leaf.Mangalorean catholics observe this feast worldwide with full fervor.
This tradition in Mangalore is definitely what unites and brings together all the family.
