Sunday, August 12, 2012

Why Monthi Feast is so popular to Mangalorea​n Catholics


It wouldn't be wrong if I say that for a Mangalorean Catholics, Nativity/Monthi Feast is the third most important Festival after Christmas and Easter. But many of us celebrate this feast without knowing how the name Monthi got attached to it. Almost every Mangalorean Catholic know that it’s a first harvest festival or a family festival celebrated along with Mother Mary's Birthday but what many of us actually don’t know is why Nativity Feast is celebrated by us more than any other Catholics including Goans.

Some Background:
On 24 February, 1784 (which happened to be the Ash Wednesday), Tippu Sultan conquered Mangalorean Catholics who were about 80,000 in number during that time. He deported them to Srirangapattana. People had to walk all the way to Srirangapattana from Mangalore which is about 350KM. About 20,000 people died on their way to Srirangapattana. Elderly people who couldn't walk were either thrown down from Mountains on their way or were killed. Catholics were held captives for 15 years and were brutally tortured until his death in 4 May, 1799. It is believed that only 15,000-20,000 Catholics returned back after his death. He used to pierce one eye, cut one hand and one leg and cut nose, upper lip of those people who tried to escape or showed resistance. Many people (at least 30,000) got converted to Islam. Girls and women were given as slaves to Generals working under Tippu. But there were people who stood strong on their Christian faith amist all the torture. They pulled threads out of gunny bags (which were given to them to sleep) and made Rosary out of it and started praying to Mother Mary. Being skilled farmers, Catholics in Mangalore were very rich having lots of cultivating land before the exile. But when they returned back, all their land were occupied by others. They had to start their lives all over again.

Actual Reason:
The festival name Monthi derives its name from the Monte Mariano Church at Farangipet, South Canara build in 1763. It was popularised by Fr. Joachim Miranda, a Goan Catholic priest. Though Tippu Sultan destroyed all the churches of South Canara, he spared Monte Mariano Church in deference to the friendship of his father Hyder Ali with Father Miranda.

As per my research, there are three different stories.
  1. Many believe that the feast was first initiated in Monte Mariano Church by Fr.Joachim Miranda in 1763 and later on spread across other churches mostly after the return from Tippu's Captivity.
  2. Some believe that Goans had a tradition of blessing the first harvest on the nativity of Mother Mary. Fr.Joachim Miranda brough this culture to Monte Mariano Church in 1763. Though Goans celebrate nativity feast, they gave up the tradition of blessing the harvest due to Portuguese aquisition.
  3. Very few believe that the feast only started after the return from Tippu's Captivity, first in Monte Mariano Church, the only spared church by Tippu and later on spread across all other churches.

No matter which one is true, the feast derived its name Monthi from the Monte Mariano Church and became popular only after the return from Tippu's captivity. The blessing of their first harvest on Mother Mary's Nativity feast after the return from Tippu's captivity was a very emotional one.

About Festival:
The nine days of novena to Mother Mary is followed by the Monthi/Nativity Feast celebration. The first harvest is blessed in church and then distributed among people. On this day the family members gather together, say prayers together and give thanks to God and have vegetarian lunch. (In most places, Fish is also served considering it to be Veggie. Only meat is not served.). The harvest distributed in church is usually mixed with Payasam that is served after the lunch.

Today all of us Mangalorean Catholics celebrate this festival but the actual reason is forgotten including my parents and relatives. It happened that I got some information about this festival 3-4 year back while searching on internet about Mangalorean Catholics and I started digging further. Today the reason why most of us Mangalorean Catholic are still Catholic is only through their sufferings, because of those who stood strong against all the torture and didn't give up their faith. Next time when we Mangaloreans celebrate this feast, let us remember and pray for all those who underwent all the sufferings in order to keep our faith alive. Praise the Lord.

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