Dear friends, there is a discussion going on in Facebook on ‘Monti fest’, initiated by Ancy Paladka. The questions he raised are - Where did Monti Fest start? What is the significance? Actually what is sought in Ancy’s discussion is the history of the Monti Fest/Noven Jevann. While we are still re-searching for the history/origin of Monti Fest; the way it has been celebrated for centuries by the Konkani Catholics, let me give my own personal rationale for the feast: Most states/ethnic groups in India have their own cultural/state/ethnic feasts, which are also celebrated as New Corn feasts or harvest feasts. These feasts give the people as a community an opportunity to offer back to God in the form of a thanksgiving celebration, what God has blessed them with - crops in their fields. Abundant crop is the greatest blessing that a farming community can receive from God. Just to mention a few, Kerala as a state celebrates Onam, Tamils as a people celebrate Pongal, etc. Though all these feasts are not strictly harvest feasts, they at least have some traces of it. I tend to think that our forefathers like Fr. Miranda (If he was the actual founder of the Monti fest), must have seen the lack of such a social/cultural/religious feast for the Konkani Catholics of the Western coast. And this must have prompted them to hold Noven jevan/harvest feast on the occasion of the feast of Nativity of our Lady. The actual meaning of Monti Saibinichen Fest is nothing but feast of our Mother Mary.
This feast, other than being a feast of thanksgiving & offering of the first fruits to God, also brings the people together. It expresses the collective unity, communion & gratitude of a people, who have put in their best efforts into a trade that they know best - Farming. Let’s remember that the Catholics of the region in those days were basically farmers. As we know well, the people on Monti Fest carry fresh new paddy corns from their fields to the church, which are blessed by the priest, offered to God and then redistributed among the people. It all symbolises offering, thanksgiving, gratitude and seeking more blessings for the future. Moreover it is also important to note that by this time of the year, monsoons have come in abundance in the coastal belt, farmers have toiled hard, their crops are growing well to their satisfaction and as they are waiting for the harvest time, they are happy & bit relaxed. So it is a proper time to celebrate the new corn feast as a family at this time. The new corn feast is intertwined with the feast of Mother Mary also because Marian Devotion has been very strong for centuries among Catholics of the area. Time of the feast of Nativity of Mary and the approaching harvest time are so close, they fit in so well.
Wishing you all my wonderful friends & dear ones a happy, joy-filled and blessings-filled Monti Fest & abundant blessings through the intercession of Mori, Amchi Mogall Mai. May this feast be special to you & your loved ones in every way. May it strengthen our bonds of unity, communion & fellowship. God bless all! Let’s all sing in one voice, Sokkod Sangatha Mellyan, Sokkod Laggin Soryan....
