Mumbai: Mother Mary Draped In Green Lugra Saree As East Indians Celebrate Agera Harvest Festival

Mumbai: Mother Mary icons in many Mumbai churches wore green lugra sarees on Sunday as congregations celebrated agera, the East Indian harvest festival.

The festival, a tradition dating back to the seventeenth century when the Portuguese ruled over Mumbai and Vasai, marks the end of the monsoon and the beginning of the harvest. The celebration is also a festival of thanksgiving for the bountiful crops. Prayers, community feasts, and cultural performances were part of the day's celebrations. In a message to the community, the Archdiocese of Bombay said that 'Agera cha san', traditionally celebrated by the East Indian community on the first Sunday of October, is also celebrated as Thanksgiving Sunday in the archdiocese. 'We give thanks to God for blessing the fruit of the earth and the work of our hands, ' the message said.

In the villages of Vasai and in the Manori-Gorai region, the festival is celebrated in the traditional way, with residents venturing out into the fields to cut paddy. Sheaves of paddy are taken to the church for the special thanksgiving mass. At many churches, including the St John the Evangelist Church in Marol, an old East Indian village, statues of Mother Mary were draped in green lugras, a nine-yard saree that has an unique style of draping.

Families living in urban areas travel to areas around the city where East Indian families still grow rice, vegetables, and other produce. Nancy Netto, a resident of Marol, Andheri, travelled to Gorai to take part in the harvest ritual. "During the Portuguese era, priests used to come to the fields for blessings. The cut paddy is taken to every church, kept near the altar for blessing and is distributed to the congregation," said Netto who wore a green lugra for the harvest ceremony.

Families take home handfuls of paddy and place it over the entrance door or the altar. The word, agera, comes from the Latin ager, meaning 'farm' or 'field', and shares a common root with the English 'agriculture'. The East Indians are descendants of converts to Roman Catholicism in the seventeenth century and the festival is a blend of pre-Christian rituals and Catholicism. The festival is celebrated by the community of nearly five lakh people who live in more than 140 Gaothans or villages served by over 100 churches.

The Mobai Gaothan Panchayat, which represents the community, organised competitions, processions with bullock and horse carts, brass bands, with participants wearing traditional attire. Toasts are raised with homemade wine called Khimad – from Portuguese Queimada – with shouts of 'Sukhala', said Walter Murzello, agera paddy coordinator for MGP. Evenings are spent visiting friends and relatives or joining other villagers in a celebration.