On the first day of the christmas I attended a celebration organized by my community called "Kadodi" we are also known as East Indians. This get together is held every year on 26th of December and you must see the crowds that come for this great event. It is a cultural evening filled with fun and frolic. They have traditional dances and songs, men and women wear traditional attire and take a procession through the villages. I was invited as the chief guests for the function. They took me around in a bullock cart well decorated and brought me to the venue where about 150000 people waiting for the function to start. The food stalls were simply good and they were all crowded by people to buy the tasty traditional food. The party went on whole night long. No drinks were served at the venue but our community men just cannot celebrate Christmas without a peg of whisky or local brew. One could see they all came along with their special brand. They danced and sang, young and old all shouting and screaming. It was a show of unity of this community.
I was asked to address the gathering, i invited the people to speak the mother tongue which is "Samvedi Konkani". The children should be taught this language as we have many words from Portuguese language.
Today we attend the funeral of the father of Br. John Garodi one of our friars who is studying in Rome. He could not be present for the funeral as it he was informed late. There were 12 friars who conclebrated with me the Holy Eucharist. The Provincial minister preached short but meaningful homily.
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