Mumbai: Historic Mount Mary feast and fair begins today, thousands to visit Bandra Basilica


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Mumbai, 13 Sept 2015 (Agencies): The annual Bandra Fair, which kicks off today, celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Mount which falls on the Sunday following September 8, the birthday of Virgin Mary. The week-long celebration when all roads lead to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Mount that overlooks the Arabian Sea, is one of Mumbai’s most popular religious celebrations, dating back to over 300 years. 

 

"Sunday’s Octave began with a series of masses from 5.30am to 10.45am. Bishop Bosco Penha will celebrate the feast mass at 11.30am. On Monday, special mass will be held for the sick and aged, and during the week, services are scheduled in Konkani, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil and Gujarati," said vice-rector Fr Aniceto Pereira.

 

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The archbishop of Bombay Cardinal Oswald Gracias will preside over feast mass at 11.30am on closing day on October 20.

 

Given the steady footfalls at Bandra Fair, scores of makeshift stalls have been erected around the shrine. Some sell wax miniatures of babies, body parts and houses to be offered at the altar, others ethnic homemade sweets and savouries. Particularly the sugar coated ’kadio bodio’ and black chana are hotselling items.

 

The Mombai Gaothan Panchayat, an organization of native East Indians, complains that it is not being considered for allotment of stalls by the authorities. "We have contacted the church authorities and local MLA Ashish Shelar to complain of injustice. They are neglecting the natives who had a big hand in laying the foundation of the Bandra Fair. Let alone giving us preference, not a single East Indian has been allotted a stall," said spokesman Walter Murzello.

 

The East Indians played a major role in assisting the Church and municipal authorities organise the feast since inception. We’ve been reduced to mere volunteers, robbed of our chance to showcase our age-old tradition of food and culture,” he said. He sees the skewed allocation of stalls as “injustice”, which he finds unacceptable considering “the Church promotes equality”. Although the Church’s structure is just about 100 years old, the legacy of the statue of Our Lady of Mount dates back to the 1700s, when according to some records, the statue was disfigured by Arab pirates, its right hand broken, and tossed into the ocean.

 

According to legend, a Koli fisherman dreamt that he would find it in the sea, and did. In 1760, the damaged chapel of Mount Mary’s Basilica was rebuilt and the statue that the fisherman had found was substituted with a statue of Our Lady of Navigators from the nearby St. Andrew’s Church in Bandra. Aniceto Pereira, assistant rector of Mount Mary Church, who supervises the allocation of stalls, confirmed having received a letter from members of the community, but said the request had come late. “Their grievance is worth considering and I have assured them that it will be addressed after the feast.

 

The Church is in control of about 150 stalls and are handed out to traditional vendors from across India, irrespective of cast, creed or religion. We have nothing to do with the stalls controlled by the BMC, “ he said. Addressing the safety concern, Pereira said the Church had received a notification from Mumbai fire brigade to reduce the number of stalls. “We can’t up numbers just to keep everyone happy but we haven’t said a no to them either,” he said. 




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