Daijiworld Magazine, Vol.12, Issue 4, September 2020

DAIJIWORLD Magazine | September 2020 51
POINT OF VIEW
Corona pandemic has reshaped
our festivals
By John B. Monteiro
Senior journalist, regular contributor to print and
electronic media. He also serves as the Editorial
Consultant for major publication projects.
“Always do your best. What
you plant, you will harvest later.”
— Augustine “Og” Mandino (1923-
1996), American author who
wrote the best-selling book,
The Greatest Salesman in the
World.
Mandino’s optimistic
message does not
always deliver
as many a time floods and
droughts destroy our crops.
This year, in the wake of the
ongoing Corona-19 pandemic,
PM Narendra Modi had
announced a number of feelgood
measures kicking in midyear
and lasting until end of the
year which, he said, is marked by
celebrations by various religions
and communities.
While this is welcome, many
such celebrations, mainly marked
by harvest festivals, were occasions
for family reunions, which
are now debarred due to the travel
restrictions and social distancing.
Let us take the instance of
Mangalorean (Canara) Christians.
Their members have had a long
history of working away from
their home district and sending
money back home. It started with
Mangaloreans working on ships,
initially as cooks and butlers and
later on decks, including as Captains
and Chief Engineers. And, of
course, office and factory employment
followed, starting with Madras,
the Provincial capital, then
Bombay, a booming city that hosted
financial institutions, and then
Bangalore, the new capital of Karnataka
State. Then there were/are
Gulf countries which threw open
their vast job ranges to Indians,
especially to those on the West
Coast of India with Mangalore in
the forefront.
Taking the harvest festival of
Canara Catholics, it is called Montiche
Fest and celebrated on September
8 which is the birthday of
Mary, mother of Jesus. It is considered
a family feast with many
working away from the home
district, returning home to participate
in the celebrations.
For Catholic Christians, for a
change Mother Mary’s birthday
provides an opportunity to savor
a pure vegetarian (consisting odd
numbers – 9, 11, etc. for whatever
reasons) and milk-based payasam,
in which the new corn (rice), is
mixed and reverentially partaken.
On this day, the consumption
of non-vegetarian food is
a taboo although people from
the Coastal districts prepare a
fish item, mostly King fish as
they argue that they are celebrating
their first catch in the
season.
Coming back to the family
aspect of harvest festival,
if the family members are
unable to join for different
reasons, they were not forgotten.
The parent or siblings used
to send them the new blessed
corn by post, but this has now is
a thing of the past for every part
in the world is now celebrating
the fest where they receive fresh
corn even before it is available in
Mangalore.
Although Corona pandemic
has disrupted to some extent the
age-old charming rituals, yet the
spirit is high and people are looking
for another year to celebrate
the feast in full zest.u