Udupi/Mangaluru: The Christian community across Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts celebrated Monti Fest, the birthday of Mother Mary, with devotion and family-centric rituals on Monday.
Rituals and celebrations
The festivities began with children offering flowers to the statue of Mother Mary, followed by the blessing of new paddy ears during solemn Eucharistic celebrations in all parishes. Priests highlighted the importance of family life and the dignity of women in society during the homilies.
At major churches:
- Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Udupi: Bishop Rev Gerald Isaac Lobo blessed the new paddy with parish priest Fr Charles Menezes.
- St Anne’s Church, Thottam: Service led by Fr Denis D’Sa.
- Milagres Cathedral, Kallianpur: Mass by Vicar General Fr Ferdinand Gonsalves.
- Our Lady of Health Church, Shirva: Led by Fr Leslie D’Souza.
- St Lawrence Basilica, Attur-Karkala: Conducted by Fr Alban D’Souza.
- St Anthony’s Church, Sasthan: Led by Fr Sunil D’Silva.
- Rosario Cathedral, Mangaluru: Mass celebrated by Rev Peter Paul Saldanha, Bishop of Mangalore.
After mass, the blessed new paddy was distributed to families. Children received sweets and sugarcane, while families placed the paddy on home altars before mixing the grains into milk or payasam, shared during a vegetarian festive meal enjoyed together.
Interfaith harmony at Thottam
At St Anne’s Church, Thottam, a long-standing interfaith tradition continued: the first sheaf of paddy was ceremoniously offered to the Hindu Poojary family, whose ancestor Babanna Poojary had donated land for the church. This year, Puttayya Poojary received the paddy from Fr Denis D’Sa.
The Poojary family also celebrates Kurl Perv (new harvest festival) on September 8, cooking rice with stalks from their ancestral temple and the blessed paddy from the church.
Additionally, the church honoured its neighbour Prabhakar, a long-time supporter of church activities, by presenting him with blessed paddy.